A new set of radio energy filaments, a few light-years in length, have been detected by astronomers on the black hole, Sagittarius A*, at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. These streaks may be the remains of explosive outbursts from the black hole, which has a mass of 4 million suns. These findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on June 2, were discovered by a team of radio astronomers, led by Dr. Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University, who studied Sagittarius A* with the MeerKAT telescope.
These filaments add to the electrical complexity of the Milky Way, which has a structure resembling a sunny-side-up egg, with a bulbous, bright middle surrounded by a flattened disk consisting of stars, gas, and dust. The new filaments are shorter than previously detected radio filaments, measuring only a few light-years in length, and they run parallel to the galactic plane rather than through it.
According to Dr. Yusef-Zadeh, the geometry of these new filaments shows that the black hole is spinning on an axis that is likewise parallel to the plane. The energy is squeezed out from the poles like toothpaste from a tube. Future observations with the Event Horizon Telescope, the far-flung network of Earthbound observation posts that in 2022 produced the first image of Sagittarius A*, should shed further light on the behavior and orientation of the black hole. Dr. Yusef-Zahed also added that “It is satisfying when one finds order in the middle of a chaotic field of the nucleus of our galaxy.”
