Scientists captured detailed images of this dust cloud using the astronomical interferometer at the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLTI) in Chile.
The location of the black hole within this dust cloud has been a mystery for decades, but the team used detailed images from the observatory to measure the temperature at various points within the cloud, and create a map to determine where the black hole should lie.
Their findings confirm predictions made nearly 30 years ago, and give astronomers new insight into “active galactic nuclei”, some of the brightest and most mysterious objects in the universe.
Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are extremely energetic sources powered by supermassive black holes and found in the midst of some galaxies. The cloud surrounding the black hole feeds it, releasing intense light that can outperform the stars in the galaxy.
These are some of the brightest and most mysterious things in the universe, located in the heart of galaxies, and the results might help determine the history of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the “Sagittarius A* region.”
Before the black hole devours the gas and dust in an active galactic nucleus, material swirls toward it, releasing massive amounts of energy in the process, often outstripping all the stars in the galaxy – as seen by telescopes on Earth.
Finding the black hole, which does not emit any light of its own, is described as a difficult process that involves solving a detailed puzzle.
Astronomers suggest that the dust at the core of the black hole supports a decades-old model known as the unified AGN model.
Violetta James Rosas, lead researcher on the new study, said: “The true nature of dust clouds and their role in feeding the black hole and determining its shape when viewed from Earth have been central questions in studies of the nucleus of living cells over the past three decades, and although there is no single result to solve With all the questions we have, we’ve taken a huge step forward in understanding how AGN works.”
These bright phenomena were first observed in the 1950s, and astronomers have been curious regarding them ever since.
Using a very large telescopic interferometer, the researchers have taken a step toward understanding how they work and what they look like up close.
Astronomers are aware that there are different types of active galactic nuclei, some appearing much brighter than others, and the model states that despite their differences, they all have the same basic structure – a supermassive black hole surrounded by a thick ring of dust.
According to the unified 30-year-old AGN model, which is confirmed by these observations, any difference in appearance between AGNs results from the angle at which the black hole and its thick ring are viewed from Earth.
The type of active galactic nucleus visible depends on how much the black hole’s ring of space dust is obscured from view, and sometimes completely hidden.
