Abstract
IT has been known for almost two decades that there is a compact, nonthermal radio source within one arcsecond of the dynamical/ gravitational centre of our Galaxy1,2. This source, designated SgrA*, is regarded as the most likely candidate for a central black hole3. Evidence for an active central source has, however, so far been lacking at infrared wavelengths4–8. Here we report near-infrared speckle and imaging spectroscopic observations which resolve the central complex (comprising SgrA*and the infrared source IRS16) into about two dozen compact sources. An expanding bubble of hot gas is found to be centred within 3 arcsec of SgrA*. There is also evidence of a blue object, positionally coincident with SgrA*, emitting at 2 μm. The hot bubble is probably created by shock excitation of a fast wind. These observations are consistent with the presence of an accreting massive black hole at the Galactic Centre.
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Eckart, A., Genzel, R., Krabbe, A. et al. Collimation of astrophysical jets by inertial confinement. Nature 355, 526–529 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/355526a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/355526a0
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