Tour:
A New Panorama of Our Galactic Center

Credit:
NASA/CXC/A. Hobart

A new panorama from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio telescope provides a stunning view of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It also reveals threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields, which are weaving a tapestry of energy near the supermassive black hole that resides there.

Over the course of its mission, Chandra has taken many observations of the Galactic Center. This latest expands Chandra's high-energy view farther above and below the plane of the galaxy — that is, the disk where most of the galaxy's stars reside — than previous imaging campaigns. In the image, we see X-rays with different energies from Chandra in different colors. These have been combined with radio data from MeerKAT, a radio telescope in South Africa.

The result is intricate to the eye and also contains a wealth of scientific information to explore. For example, researchers identified long and narrow bands of X-rays that they call "threads". These features are bound together by thin strips of magnetic fields. One of these threads points perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy and is about 20 light-years long but only one-hundredth that size in width. (That's about five times the distance between the Sun and the nearest star.) These threads may have formed when magnetic fields aligned in different directions, collided, and became twisted around each other in a process called magnetic reconnection. This is similar to the phenomenon that drives energetic particles away from the Sun and is responsible for the space weather that sometimes affects Earth.

A detailed study of these threads teaches us more about the galactic space weather astronomers have witnessed throughout the region.
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More information in ALT-Text

https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2021/gcenter/animations.html

2021 June 2

The Galactic Center in Stars, Gas, and Magnetism
* Image Credit:
** X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://chandra.harvard.edu/
https://www.astro.umass.edu/
https://www.astro.umass.edu/people/faculty/daniel-wang
** Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT
https://www.nrf.ac.za/
https://www.sarao.ac.za/
https://www.sarao.ac.za/

Explanation:
What's going on near the center of our galaxy? To help find out, a newly detailed panorama has been composed that explores regions just above and below the galactic plane in radio and X-ray light. X-ray light taken by the orbiting Chandra Observatory is shown in orange (hot), green (hotter), and purple (hottest) and superposed with a highly detailed image in radio waves, shown in gray, acquired by the MeerKAT array. Interactions are numerous and complex. Galactic beasts such as expanding supernova remnants, hot winds from newly formed stars, unusually strong and colliding magnetic fields, and a central supermassive black hole are all battling in a space only 1000 light years across. Thin bright stripes appear to result from twisting and newly connecting magnetic fields in colliding regions, creating an energetic type of inner galactic space weather with similarities to that created by our Sun. Continued observations and study hold promise to not only shed more light on the history and evolution of our own galaxy -- but all galaxies.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.02932

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210602.html

This image shows the region around the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), in infrared (orange and purple) and X-ray light (blue). The image is scanned from left to right and the data are transformed into sound. The brightness of the objects is represented by the volume, while the vertical positions of the sources in the image are mapped to musical pitches. X-rays are played with a soft synthesizer and the infrared data are heard as bass notes and plucked sounds. The brightest region in the middle of the image (and hence the loudest) is where Sgr A* the black hole, resides. It is within this area that the Event Horizon Telescope was able to peer to obtain the first image of Sgr A* itself.

About the Sound:

The image is scanned from left to right with brightness controlling the volume.

The vertical position is mapped to musical pitches with higher pitches toward the top.

The mid-IR layer is limited to a low range and played on a bass.

The X-ray layer is limited to a high range and played on a soft synth.

The brightest regions in the X-ray image (including Sgr A*) are highlighted by increasing the brightness of the synth's sound.

Listen for a peak at the location of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the 14 second mark.

The near IR layer covers the full pitch range.

The stars visible in the near-IR image are played on a plucked distorted synth.

The stereo pan follows the scan from left to right.

https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2022/sgra/animations.html

Sagittarius A* EHT Radio Sonification

* Sonification Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/K.Arcand, SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida);
* Image Credit: Radio: EHT Collaboration; X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO); Infrared (NASA/HST/STScI)
[Runtime: 00:32]

This is a sonification — translation into sound — of the latest image from the Event Horizon Telescope of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Using a radar-like scan, the sonification begins at the 12 o'clock position and sweeps clockwise. Changes in volume represent the differences in brightness the EHT observed around the event horizon of Sgr A*. The material that is closer to the black hole and hence moving faster corresponds to higher frequencies of sound. This sonification was processed in a special way to allow a listener to hear the data in 3D stereo sound, in which the sounds seem to start directly ahead and then move clockwise to one ear then the other as the sweep is made.

About the Sound:

This is a radar-like scan, starting from 12 o'clock and moving clockwise.

The brightness controls the volume and the radial position controls the frequencies that are present.

The emission from material closer to the black hole (which orbits faster) is mapped to higher frequencies.

The sound is rendered in binaural audio. When listened to with headphones, the sound will appear to start directly in front of you and then move clockwise all the way around your head.

Listen for the three bright regions at about 1, 5, and 9 o'clock, as well as the very low tones indicating fainter light from outside the main ring.

https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2022/sgra/animations.html