Last summer , an enigmatic accelerator cloud had space scientist at the edge of their seat as it migrate hazardously close to our galax ’s prodigious calamitous muddle . The moth-eaten cloud ’s betoken day of reckoning was set to be one of themain astronomic effect of the class , but perplexingly it seemed to have escaped the black fix ’s gravitational clutches . Now , after canvass the best images collected so far of the cloud , scientists haveconfirmedthat it made its closest approach in May last year and indeed live on the encounter apparently unscathed . The findings have been published inAstrophysical Journal Letters .
At the plaza of the Milky Way lie in a supermassive disgraceful hole , known as Sagittarius A * ( Sgr A * ) , with a massfour million timesthat of our Sunday . Back in 2011 , scientistsdiscovereda dusty swarm of gas , after make G2 , several sentence the mass of Earth that seem to be zooming tight towards this object . After tracking G2 ’s path , it seemed to be undergoingspaghettification , or the attic essence , whereby the black hole ’s uttermost gravitational field was grossly unfold and elongating the swarm , much like alimentary paste .
In fact , the cloud appeared to be so distended that the approach was not a single issue , but rather a processextending over a period of one yr . scientist therefore auspicate that the hungry dark hole would dramatically snap apart G2 as it made its daring encounter , possibly as other as2013 . But , perhaps disappointedly for those expecting fireworks , G2 survived its transition and continued mirthfully on its orbit around Sgr A * , completely unmoved by the consequence .
This resiliency lead scientists to reassess G2 ’s identity since a loose - floating flatulency swarm would not have made it through the showdown . At first , astronomerspostulatedthat it could be a pair ofbinary stars(two stars orbiting around a common gist of mass ) that unify into a huge star . But several old age of watching using ESO ’s Very gravid Telescope ( VLT ) and other pawn have lead scientist to consider it could be ayoung , compact starwith a massive inwardness that is still attracting more affair , or accrete fabric .
Interestingly , despite earlier data suggesting that the cloud was being dramatically stretched by Sgr A * , thelatest observationsin infrared show that G2 was in fact thickset both before and after its closest approach , as it swerved around the black hole . This ties in with other measure from the VLT , which show that the behaviour of the fabric being accrete into Sgr A * seems to be static and not disturbed by material from G2 . If the colossal black hole was indeed being fertilise by matter from the swarm , we would expect to see flaring and increased natural process .
“ It was amazing to see that the glowing from the dusty swarm stayed compact before and after the snug approach to the mordant hole , ” lead author Monica Valencia - S. said in astatement .
Alongside provide us with the most detailed images so far of the event , VLT information also allowed scientists to figure G2 ’s velocity during its encounter . As it rush along towards Sgr A * , the swarm was jaunt away from us at around 10 million kilometer ( 6 million miles ) per hr , but after it drop around the ignominious kettle of fish , it was head in our direction at speed of 12 million kilometers per hour ( 7.5 million mph ) .
ESO / A. Eckart
