Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescope have made a groundbreaking discovery – a “chimney exhaust” connected to the center of the Milky Way. This chimney allows hot gas to be expelled from the heart of our galaxy, potentially influenced by the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
Located approximately 26,000 light-years from Earth, the chimney starts at the center of the Milky Way, perpendicular to the galaxy’s plane. Previous identification of the chimney was made using X-ray data from Chandra and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space telescopes, with further confirmation provided by the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.
Recent data from Chandra reveal multiple X-ray structures perpendicular to the Milky Way’s plane, believed to be the walls of a chimney structure. This cylindrical chimney helps in allowing hot gases to rise and away from the galactic center, with the newly discovered exhaust port located about 700 light years from the Milky Way center.
The discovery of the vent also provides insights into the origins of Fermi bubbles and eROSITA bubbles, mysterious structures around the Milky Way center observed by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and eROSITA. The alignment of these structures with the chimney direction suggests a potential link, with the exhaust port playing a role in forming the giant bubble structures.
Overall, this discovery offers new understanding of the mechanisms at play near the center of the Milky Way and provides valuable insights into the cosmic processes shaping our galaxy. The research findings have been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.