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The Milky Way’s secret

  • 11 October, 2020

  • 2 Min Read

The Milky Way’s secret

Context:

  • 2020 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea M. Ghez for their work on black holes.

Important terminologies:

1. Event Horizon:

  • It is defined as a notional boundary around a black hole beyond which no light or other radiation can escape.

2. Quasars:

  • A quasar is an extremely luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN), in which a super massive black hole with very high mass is surrounded by a gaseous accretion disk.
  • Quasars are found in the centres of some galaxies and powered by gas spiralling at high velocity into an extremely large black hole.
  • Quasars give off enormous amounts of energy.

3. Sagittarius A*:

  • Sagittarius A* is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the Galactic Centre of the Milky Way.
  • Sagittarius A* is the location of a super massive black hole, similar to those at the centres of most, if not all, spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies.

Source: TH

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