Summary
–
One of the mysteries of our universe/galaxy which gets solved in gradual steps
is the center of the Milky Way: read on to find out what it has, how it is, how
far it is from Earth and more...
The Sun is at the center of the solar system.
Unfortunately, the Sun occupies a rather unimportant position in the galaxy.
It's very far from the center of the Milky Way, a place that's as interesting
as any other in the whole of the universe.
In this article, we'll take a peek (for that's all
we're presently capable of doing) at the center of the Milky Way, our beloved
galaxy.
The Milky Way is a wonderful barred spiral galaxy with
a very active and dense central part. There are an estimated 100 billion or
more stars near this place but what's even more impressive is that the center
of the galaxy has a huge black hole, called the Sagittarius A*. The galactic
center is so massive and huge that you can fit the weight of over 4 million
Suns into this relatively small area. Of course, it's not a black hole for
nothing.
At the Galactic center, there is a dense concentration
of stars, gas clouds and more which makes it hard for us to actually 'see' what
there is. A lot of normal methods don't work. So, scientists have to resort to
using radio waves, sub-millimeter waves, gamma rays and the likes to 'see' what
exists at the galactic center.
Almost at the center of the galaxy, astronomers say,
there's this huge black hole (called a super massive black hole). It's called
the Sagittarius A*.
How
did they find out?
A black hole has such an intense gravity that it does
not let even light escape from within itself. When gas clouds or a nearby star
passes very close to this, it gets sucked. Swirling gas or residue are let out
as the black hole gurgles the nearby passer. This results in emission of waves
which are picked up by instruments on Earth.
How
far?
The center of the galaxy is estimated to be around
26,000 light years away. But it's a very broad estimate. The opinion lies
between 25,000-28,000 light years (a 3000-light-year difference is enormously
huge).
Mass
of the Galactic Center
The main part of the black hole is estimated to be
about 0.3 AU (think of 44 million kilometers or approximately the distance between
Mercury and Sun). This “small” part has a mass of at least 40,000 Suns.
The radio emissions occur from a larger section of the
zone that's estimated to be around 150 million kilometers (about the distance
between Earth and Sun). The mass contained within this region is estimated to
be about 4 million Suns.
0 comments :
Post a Comment