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Researchers have found that the supermassive black hole in the center of our Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*, is spinning so rapidly that it is altering the fabric of space-time around it.
Using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the team of physicists were able to observe the black hole, located about 27,000 light-years away, and make calculations about Sagittarius A*’s rotational speed. Their findings, published in October in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, confirmed that the black hole's spin is causing what is known as the Lense-Thirring precession, a frame-dragging effect involving planets and time.
"If you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric – the spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it," lead study author Ruth Daly, a physics professor at Penn State University, told CNN. "It squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football.”
Using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the team of physicists were able to observe the black hole, located about 27,000 light-years away, and make calculations about Sagittarius A*’s rotational speed. Their findings, published in October in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, confirmed that the black hole's spin is causing what is known as the Lense-Thirring precession, a frame-dragging effect involving planets and time.
"If you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric – the spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it," lead study author Ruth Daly, a physics professor at Penn State University, told CNN. "It squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football.”
Study finds our galaxy’s black hole is altering space-time. Here’s what that means.
While altering space-time poses no threats to humanity, the findings will help other astronomers and physicists understand the black hole's history.
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