Artists Impression of the “Tadpole” Molecular Cloud and the great void at the gravitational center of its orbit. Credit: Keio University
Researchers discovered an uncommon gas cloud called the “Tadpole” potentially orbiting a huge black hole 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, and plan to use ALMA to look for indications of the black hole
A strange cloud of gas, nicknamed the Tadpole due to its shape, appears to be focusing on an area lacking any brilliant things. This recommends that the Tadpole is orbiting a dark object, more than likely a great void 100,000 times more enormous than the Sun. Future observations will assist determine what is responsible for the shape and movement of the Tadpole.
A team of Japanese scientists led by Miyuki Kaneko at Keio University utilized data from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, operated by the East Asian Observatory, and NAOJs Nobeyama 45-m Radio Telescope to determine an uncommon cloud of gas about 27,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The curved “Tadpole” shape of the molecular gas cloud strongly suggests that it is being stretched as it orbits around a huge compact object. The only problem is, at the center of the Tadpoles orbit, there are no intense things which might be huge adequate to gravitationally hold the Tadpole. The finest prospect for this huge compact unnoticeable things is a black hole.
Because great voids do not give off light, the only method to find them is when they connect with other objects. This leaves astronomers in the dark about just the number of black holes, and with what series of masses, may be lurking in the Milky Way.
Now the group prepares to utilize ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) to look for faint signs of a great void, or other object, at the gravitational center of the Tadpoles orbit.
Recommendation: “Discovery of the Tadpole Molecular Cloud near the Galactic Nucleus” by Miyuki Kaneko, Tomoharu Oka, Hiroki Yokozuka, Rei Enokiya, Shunya Takekawa, Yuhei Iwata and Shiho Tsujimoto, 10 January 2023, The Astrophysical Journal.DOI: 10.3847/ 1538-4357/ aca66a.
Funding: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.