The image from the ALMA submillimeter array shows the area around Sagittarius A *, a supermassive black hole hiding in the center of the Milky Way galaxy (highlighted by a circle). A new study shows amazing evidence that interstellar gas and dust rotate around a black hole at high speeds.
Gas clouds rich in molecular hydrogen are called molecular, and they have never before been unequivocally discovered. This photo shows the actual distribution of molecules, including carbon monoxide - the second most common molecular component of clouds.
The clouds are 26,000 light-years distant from us and are close to a supermassive black hole for 1 light year. The high resolution of ALMA allowed researchers to detect clouds that are products of pre-existing massive clouds that revolve around the galactic center. They were crushed to the state of fragments with a lower density. Clouds of molecular gas are capable of creating new stars, but this is unlikely to happen. They are endowed with a relatively small mass of 60 times the solar one and are located near the powerful gravitational forces of Sagittarius A *. Although the stars were observed near the supermassive black hole, but this is the first detection of molecular clouds.
