A map that was created in 2021 showed the very violent center our Milky Way Galaxy. University of Massachusetts Amherst Astronomer has released new research and images Daniel WangWith unprecedented clarity, it reveals.An X-ray thread G0.17-0.41 that hints at an interstellar mechanism previously unknown, which may regulate the energy flow and possibly the evolution of our Milky Way.
“The galaxy is like an ecosystem,” says Wang, whose findings are a result of more than two decades of research. “We know the centers of galaxies are where the action is and play an enormous role in their evolution.”
The Milky Way’s Opaque Center
And yet, whatever has happened in the center of our own galaxy is hard to study, despite its relative proximity to Earth, because, as Wang explains, it is obscured by a dense, opaque fog of gas and dust. Researchers simply can’t see the center, even with an instrument as powerful as the famous Hubble Space Telescope.
Wang, however, has used a different telescope, NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, capable of penetrating the obscuring fog—and the results shown at the top of the page are stunning.
Wang’s findings, supported by NASA, give the clearest picture yet of a pair of X-ray-emitting plumes that are emerging from the region near the massive black hole lying at the center of our galaxy.
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Only the Tip of the Reconnection Iceberg
It is even more fascinating to discover an X-ray thread named G0.17-0.41 (below), which is located near the southern plume. “This thread reveals a new phenomenon,” says Wang. “This is evidence of an ongoing magnetic field reconnection event.” The thread, writes Wang, probably represents “only the tip of the reconnection iceberg.”
An Extremely Violent Event
A FieldA reconnection event occurs when two opposing magnetic field combine and force them together, releasing enormous amounts of energy.
“It’s a violent process,” says Wang, and is known to be responsible for such well-known phenomena as solar flaresThey can produce space weather that is strong enough to disrupt power grids on Earth and communication systems. They also produce the amazing Northern Lights. Scientists now think that magnetic reconnection also occurs in interstellar space and tends to take place at the outer boundaries of the expanding plumes driven out of our galaxy’s center.
The Strange Events at Our Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
You can send an email The Daily GalaxyProfessor Wang was asked by the reporter about the time frames of magnetic reconnections. He responded, “Reconnection events can be compared to solar flares. They come and go, just on much longer time scales because of the much greater physical scales.” Wang added, “One may estimate the age (or sound crossing time) of the thread from its length, which is on the order of 10^4 years.”
The Daily Galaxy also asked Professor Wang about the relationship between these X-ray threads, the supermassive black hole Sgr A*, and the large Fermi Bubbles of gamma-rays within the central regions of our Milky Way. Wang replied in an email, “Gamma-ray-emitting particles in the Fermi Bubbles could be accelerated by reconnection events. The central region of the Galaxy could also be affected by magnetic fields. The magnetic energy does not have to be directly related to any eruption from Sgr A*.”
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Unknown Factors
It is still unknown how these magnetic reconnection events affect the central regions of our Milky Way, “What is the total amount of energy outflow at the center of the galaxy? How does it get there? And how does it regulate the galactic ecosystem?” asks Wang.
These fundamental questions, Wang says, will unlock the story of the universe’s past. Though much work remains to be done, Wang’s new map points the way.
Source: Chandra large-scale mapping the Galactic Centre by Q Daniel Wang and Chandra: probing high energy structures in the central molecular area. Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society (2021). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab801
Maxwell Moe, astrophysicist, NASA Einstein FellowUniversity of Arizonavia U Mass Amherst Daniel Wang.
Maxwell Moe (astrophysicist, NASA Einstein Fellow University of Arizona), Maxwell Moe Max is often found at Kitt Peak National Observatory two nights per week, exploring the mysteries of the Universe. Max received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2015 in astronomy.
