In the deadliest place of the Milky Way galaxy, near the central black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), scientists have astonishingly discovered a nursery of life.
According to Science Alert, this discovery came from a mysterious object: a star named X3a, just a few tens of thousands of years old, wandering around the black hole like a child just born from this cosmic monster.
This finding has stunned astronomers because this region is supposed to be a graveyard for stars, where nothing can be born; instead, any star that ventures too close is torn apart and swallowed by the immense power of the black hole.
The monstrous black hole Sgr A* in X-ray light – (Image: NASA).
The space surrounding Sgr A* was previously thought to be incapable of star formation due to its insufficient stability and the intense ultraviolet and X-ray radiation that prevents gas from coalescing into stars. However, X3a defies all theories by shining brightly with a radius ten times that of the Sun, a mass fifteen times greater, and a luminosity 24,000 times that of the Sun.
A team of scientists led by the University of Cologne (Germany) traced this “monster” star and discovered its surprising home: a region just a few light-years away from Sgr A*, a belt of gas and dust cool enough and shielded from the destructive radiation around it.
This strange star nursery exists as a ring of material surrounding the central black hole of the galaxy, originating with a mass about 100 times that of the Sun and fortuitously gathering more material during its evolutionary process. Once it becomes dense enough, the gravitational collapse can trigger star formation.
The brilliant newborn star X3a shows signs of beginning to move toward Sgr A*, still enveloped by gas and dust. This star possesses a strong gravitational pull, continuing to consume more material along its path, gradually increasing in size.
X3a has shed light on another seemingly absurd discovery made 20 years ago when signs of very young stars appeared in the vicinity of Sgr A*, farther from this star. Previously, it was believed that if there were any stars in this area, they would only be old stars being gradually pulled toward the black hole. The new findings suggest that these young stars were likely also born from the realm of the monstrous black hole.
The research has just been published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
