The black hole of our galaxy rotates

2004/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

A group of international astrophysicists discover that the black hole in the center of our galaxy is spinning. The discovery was made by measuring infrared radiations.

(Photo: ANDÉN).

Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in Chile, is used to make the discovery. Thus, they have measured infrared radiation from Sagitarius A* and have seen that every 17 minutes there are waves. Sagitarius A* is an X-ray source that you have recently discovered and is located in the center of our galaxy.

These series of waves collected by VTL are emitted by the hot gases surrounding the black hole, and the periodic arrival to Earth indicates they are spinning, along with the black hole. According to the researchers, this discovery will allow testing the General Theory of Relativity.