Astrophysicists have found evidence of wind coming from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, solving a scientific mystery that has lasted for fifty years.

天體物理學家發現了銀河系中心的超大質量黑洞有風吹出，解決了一個持續五十年的科學之謎。

The discovery was made possible by a five-year study using the ALMA telescope in Chile and data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These tools provided images with much better detail and resolution than previous maps. This clearer view revealed a cone-shaped hole made of hot, charged gas. The research team emphasized that this cavity was created by material being pushed out from Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), as only a supermassive black hole would have enough energy to create such a void.

這次發現是透過在智利使用 ALMA 電視鏡進行五年的研究，以及 NASA 的錢德拉 X 射線天文台的數據才得以實現。這些工具提供了比以往地圖更詳細的細節與更高解析度的圖像。更清晰的視圖揭露了一個由高溫帶電氣體組成的圓錐形洞。研究團隊強調，這個空腔是由人馬座 A* (Sgr A*) 推出物質所造成的，因為只有超大質量黑洞才擁有足夠能量來創造這樣的真空。

Scientists have long believed that when supermassive black holes pull in matter, they must also push some of it back out as jets or winds. While this is easy to see in far-away galaxies, it was previously hidden in our own galaxy by clouds of gas and dust. The current findings show that Sgr A*, which is four million times heavier than the sun, is currently in a quiet phase. Consequently, the wind is relatively weak and does not have enough energy to change the structure of the galactic center. The identified cavity is about 6.5 light-years long and contains material that was ejected roughly 20,000 years ago.

科學家長期以來一直相信，當超大質量黑洞吸入物質時，它們必須將部分物質以噴流或強風的形式重新推出。雖然這在遙遠的星系中很容易觀察到，但之前在我們自己的星系中被氣體與塵埃雲遮蔽了。目前的發現顯示，質量為太陽四百萬倍的 Sgr A* 目前處於沉寂期。因此，風力相對較弱，不足以改變星系中心的結構。該識別出的空腔長約 6.5 光年，其中包含約兩萬年前被噴出的物質。

This discovery confirms that Sgr A* behaves like other black holes by releasing outflows, even though its current activity is quite low.

這次發現確認了 Sgr A* 與其他黑洞一樣會釋放流出物，即便它目前的活動程度非常低。