Two decades of observations from the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii have shown that cosmic
Artistic rendering of what is expectedaround 2036, when X7, an elongated thread of dust and gas, will make its closest approach to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
Astronomers from the California InitiativeThe University of Los Angeles' Galactic Center Orbits Initiative (GCOI) and the Keck Observatory have been tracking the evolution of this dusty gas filament since 2002. High angular resolution near-infrared images showed that X7 had become so elongated that it was now 3,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. This means that its length is 3,000 astronomical units.
Keck Observatory data and image fromadaptive optics, made in the summer of 2021. It shows gas and dust structures at the center of the Galaxy, including object X7. Credit: A. Chiurlo et al./UCLA GCOI/V.M. Observatory Keck
“This is a unique opportunity to observebehind the effects of the black hole's tidal forces in high resolution, giving us insight into the extreme physics of the galactic center," explains Anna Ciurlo, assistant researcher at UCLA and lead author of the study.
Tidal forces are the gravitational pullwhich stretches an object approaching a black hole. The side of the object that is closer to the black hole is attracted much more strongly than the far side.
Images obtained with the NIRC2 instrumentKeck Observatory and Adaptive Optics, show the evolution of X7 from 2002 to 2021. Credit: A. Chiurlo et al / UCLA GCOI / W. M. Keck Observatory
The mass of X7 is about 50 Earth masses and is on an orbital path around the Galaxy's black hole, Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A*). It will take about 170 years to pass it.
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