The radiation signals emitted by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way are quite irregular, according to a new study. Although the galactic core “blinks” every day, the intervals are chaotic and unpredictable.
At the center of our galaxy inhabits a monstrous black hole estimated to be four million times the mass of the Sun. Although considered inactive, or “asleep”, Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A*) emits radio signals, -X and gamma rays every day, plus it has a small jet.
It turns out that, according to a study by an international team of researchers, led by graduate student Alexis Andrés, Sgr A* not only glows irregularly from day to day, but also in the long term.
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The bursts of radiation emitted in these daily “bursts” are ten to one hundred times brighter than the normal signals seen at the black hole. However, the intensity and intervals are not constant, and scientists still don’t know why.
According to data analysis, the black hole showed high levels of activity between 2006 and 2008, with a sharp decline over the next four years. After 2012, the frequency of eruptions increased again, thwarting astronomers’ attempts to distinguish a pattern.
Causes of black hole eruptions
Black holes themselves do not emit radiation, but their surroundings do. When they feed on matter, such as stars or clouds of gas and dust, these objects begin a long process of tearing apart their “meal” before it lands on the event horizon — the black hole’s point of no return.
As the star or cloud is torn apart and spaghettied, it begins to spin around the black hole at high speed, turning into a heated plasma. Depending on the amount of matter, this process results in an accretion disk and a relativistic jet.
Not much is known about the activity of Sgr A*, except that it doesn’t eat much. So the new study could help scientists determine what exactly is going on there. For the next few years, the team hopes to gather enough data to rule out possible causes of the variation in emissions.
One possibility is that the black hole is feeding on gaseous clouds, but it could be that something else could explain the irregular activity. The result was the result of an analysis of 15 years of data, which began in 2019, and was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
