Q&A

What prevents us from seeing the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy in visible light?

What prevents us from seeing the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy in visible light?

This matter is known as as the interstellar medium, a disc that makes up a whopping 10-15\% of the luminous/visible matter in our galaxy and fills the long spaces in between the stars. The thickness of the dust deflects visible light (as is explained here), leaving only infrared light to pass through the dust.

Why can’t we see the black hole in our galaxy?

A lot is standing between us and Sagittarius A* — some of which radio telescopes can’t easily see through. “We’re looking through the plane of our galaxy, and in the plane of our galaxy, there is some material called turbulent plasma,” Bower says. “It’s essentially cloudy ionized gas that blurs the image.”

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How do we know there is a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way?

Astronomers believe that supermassive black holes lie at the center of virtually all large galaxies, even our own Milky Way. Astronomers can detect them by watching for their effects on nearby stars and gas. This chart shows the relative masses of super-dense cosmic objects.

Why is the black hole at the center of the Milky Way not a quasar?

In reality, the light comes from the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole. The disk is so bright that the galaxy around it cannot be seen. There is a black hole behind every quasar, but not every black hole is a quasar. It must be supermassive: millions or billions of times the mass of our Sun.

What evidence supports the theory that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy quizlet?

What evidence supports the theory that there is a black hole at the center of our galaxy? The motions of the gas and stars at the center indicate that it contains a million solar masses within a region only about 1 parsec across.

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What evidence suggests there is a supermassive black hole at the center of most massive galaxies?

Direct evidence for a supermassive black hole – a plot of the orbital motion of the star S2 around the centre of the Milky Way. From these observations, astronomers have inferred that a supermassive black hole of about 3 million solar masses lurks at the centre of our galaxy.

Why are there supermassive black holes in the center of galaxies?

Stellar black holes result from the collapse of massive stars, and some have suggested that supermassive black holes form out of the collapse of massive clouds of gas during the early stages of the formation of the galaxy.

Do supermassive black holes regulate galaxy evolution?

Powerful winds driven by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are likely the main mechanism through which SMBHs regulate their own growth and influence the host galaxy evolution.

What is a supermassive black hole What observational evidence tell us supermassive black holes can be found at the center of many galaxies?

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What is the best evidence for a supermassive black hole in the Milky Way’s core quizlet?

Astronomers have found convincing evidence for a super massive black hole in the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, the galaxy NGC 4258, the giant elliptical galaxy M87, and several others. Scientists verified the existence of the black holes by studying the speed of the clouds of gas orbiting those regions.