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A strange object is being dragged into a huge black hole at the center of our galaxy

A mysterious elongated object is being dragged into the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy,

Orbits of the G objects at the center of our galaxy, with the supermassive black hole indicated with a white cross. Stars, gas and dust are in the background. Credit - Anna Ciurlo, Tuan Do/UCLA Galactic Center Group
Orbits of the G objects at the center of our galaxy, with the supermassive black hole indicated with a white cross. Stars, gas and dust are in the background. Credit - Anna Ciurlo, Tuan Do/UCLA Galactic Center Group

A mysterious elongated object is being dragged into the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy,

For nearly two decades, scientists have been studying the elongated object, known as X7 not far from the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Astronomers from the UCLA Galactic Center Group the Keck Observatory wanted to know what the object was.

Now, having examined the evolution of X7 using 20 years of data gathered by the Galactic Center Orbit Initiative, the scientists believe they have discovered a new class of bizarre objects at the center of our galaxy.

Their research was published on January 15, 2023, in the journal Nature. Researchers now believe it could be a cloud of gas and dust ejected when two stars collided.

“No other object in this region has shown such an extreme evolution,” UCLA assistant researcher and lead author Anna Ciurlo said in a news release, according to CTV News Canada.

igure 1. X7 in context: gas and dust structures in the Galactic Center. Three-color image of the central 0.27 × 0.27 pc of the Galactic Center obtained with the NIRC2 imager at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Lp (3.8 μm) is shown in red, Ms (4.7 μm) in green, and Kp (2.1 μm) in blue. All three bands were observed in the summer of 2021 using adaptive optics (Section 2 provides details on these observations). Credit – IOP Science. CC SA 4.0.

“It started off comet-shaped and people thought maybe it got that shape from stellar winds or jets of particles from the black hole. But as we followed it for 20 years we saw it becoming more elongated. Something must have put this cloud on its particular path with its particular orientation.”

X7 has a mass of about 50 Earths and is on an orbital path around the black hole, known as Sagittarius A* which would take 170 years to complete. However, this might not happen. The study shows that based on its trajectory, X7 will have a short lifespan.

Researchers expect X7 to make its closest approach to the black hole, also called Sig A* around the year 2036. After that, they predict, X7 will disintegrate and spiral toward the black hole at the center of the Milky Way before disappearing.

Artist’s impression of G objects, with the reddish centers, orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The black hole is represented as a dark sphere inside a white ring (above the middle of the rendering). Credit: Jack Ciurlo, UCLA Newsroom.

“We anticipate the strong tidal forces exerted by the galactic black hole will ultimately tear X7 apart before it completes even one orbit,” said co-author Mark Morris, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

There are other strange dust objects orbiting Sgr A*. Those so-called G objects. They appear to look like gas but behave like stars. But X7’s shape and velocity have changed more dramatically than the G objects’ have.

As it accelerates toward the black hole, X7 is moving rapidly, clocking in at speeds of up to around 700 miles per second.

“It’s exciting to see significant changes of X7’s shape and dynamics in such great detail over a relatively short time scale as the gravitational forces of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way influence this object,” Randy Campbell, a co-author of the paper and the science operations lead at the Keck Observatory, said in a statement.

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