Gas Cloud Headed Towards Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Simulation of Gas Cloud After Close Approach to the Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way

This view shows a simulation of how a gas cloud that has been observed approaching the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy may break apart over the next few years. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed and it is expected to break up completely during 2013. The remains of the gas cloud are shown in red and yellow, with the cloud’s orbit marked in red. The stars orbiting the black hole are also shown along with blue lines marking their orbits. This view simulates the expected positions of the stars and gas cloud in the year 2021. Credit: ESO/MPE/Marc Schartmann

While monitoring the movement of stars around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, astronomers discovered an ionized gas cloud with a mass roughly three times that of the Earth and moving at more than 8 million km/h towards the black hole.

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered a gas cloud with several times the mass of the Earth accelerating fast towards the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed. The results will be published in the 5 January 2012 issue of the journal Nature.

During a 20-year program using ESO telescopes to monitor the movement of stars around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, a team of astronomers led by Reinhard Genzel at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, has discovered a unique new object fast approaching the black hole.

Over the last seven years, the speed of this object has nearly doubled, reaching more than 8 million km/h. It is on a very elongated orbit and in mid-2013 it will pass at a distance of only about 40 billion kilometers from the event horizon of the black hole, a distance of about 36 light-hours. This is an extremely close encounter with a supermassive black hole in astronomical terms.


This zoom sequence stars with a view of the Milky Way. We zoom in towards the crowded central region, in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). By shifting to an infrared red view we see through the dusty clouds in this direction and get a close-up view of the objects orbiting the supermassive black hole that lies at the center of the Milky Way. The final views show the motion of a newly-discovered gas cloud that is falling rapidly towards the central black hole. Credit: ESO/MPE/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/VISTA/J

This object is much cooler than the surrounding stars (only about 280 degrees Celsius), and is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. It is a dusty, ionized gas cloud with a mass roughly three times that of the Earth. The cloud is glowing under the strong ultraviolet radiation from the hot stars around it in the crowded heart of the Milky Way.

The current density of the cloud is much higher than the hot gas surrounding the black hole. But as the cloud gets ever closer to the hungry beast, increasing external pressure will compress the cloud. At the same time the huge gravitational pull from the black hole, which has a mass four million times that of the Sun, will continue to accelerate the inward motion and stretch the cloud out along its orbit.


This simulation shows the future behavior of a gas cloud that has been observed approaching the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed and it is expected to break up completely during 2013. Credit: ESO/MPE/M.Schartmann

“The idea of an astronaut close to a black hole being stretched out to resemble spaghetti is familiar from science fiction. But we can now see this happening for real to the newly discovered cloud. It is not going to survive the experience,” explains Stefan Gillessen (MPE) the lead author of the paper.

The cloud’s edges are already starting to shred and disrupt and it is expected to break up completely over the next few years. The astronomers can already see clear signs of increasing disruption of the cloud over the period between 2008 and 2011.

The Center of the Milky Way Showing a Newly Discovered and Rapidly Moving Cloud

These images taken over the last decade using the NACO instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope show the motion of a cloud of gas that is falling towards the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This is the first time ever that the approach of such a doomed cloud to a supermassive black hole has been observed and it is expected to break up completely during 2013. Credit: ESO/MPE

The material is also expected to get much hotter as it nears the black hole in 2013 and it will probably start to give off X-rays. There is currently little material close to the black hole so the newly-arrived meal will be the dominant fuel for the black hole over the next few years.

One explanation for the formation of the cloud is that its material may have come from nearby young massive stars that are rapidly losing mass due to strong stellar winds. Such stars literally blow their gas away. Colliding stellar winds from a known double star in orbit around the central black hole may have led to the formation of the cloud.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

Reference: “A gas cloud on its way towards the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre” by S. Gillessen, R. Genzel, T. K. Fritz, E. Quataert, C. Alig, A. Burkert, J. Cuadra, F. Eisenhauer, O. Pfuhl, K. Dodds-Eden, C. F. Gammie and T. Ott, 14 December 2011, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/nature10652

2 Comments on "Gas Cloud Headed Towards Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole"

  1. This is the same information on UC berkley 2011. But a site by school in idaho says this ‘black hole’ is not consuming matter. It is just sitting there. I think it is a magnetar that by its size is the default center of the MW. It attracts ionized gases. These gases are not consumed, they are compressed into new blue young stars. So if it is a magnatar how does it grow?

    • I see this as a great opportunity for the expansion of knowledge. Being so, I would like to make a prediction on what will happen. Just my 2 cents. I think little or none of the mass headed toward that hole will go thru. Most if not all (99.9%) will be shreaded and then radiated back into the universe in other forms. If I am right, you may want to rethink your universal evolution theories.(if they caint eat,how could they grow)

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