Nueva mirada a las estrellas que hay alrededor del centro de la Vía Láctea
La Imagen de la semana de hoy nos ofrece una nueva visión del corazón de nuestra Vía Láctea. Esta impresionante instantánea, tomada con el VLT (Very Large Telescope) de ESO, revela las estrellas y el gas que rodean a un gigante invisible: un agujero negro supermasivo, situado a unos 27.000 años luz de distancia. Nos encontramos ante un entorno sumamente dinámico, con estrellas y nubes de gas pasando a toda velocidad junto al agujero negro.
Un equipo del Instituto Max Planck de Física Extraterrestre (Alemania) ha detectado una nueva nube de gas, llamada G2t, orbitando el agujero negro supermasivo. Ya se sabía de la existencia de dos nubes de gas, G1 y G2, pero su naturaleza y origen aún estaban siendo objeto de debate. En particular, no estaba claro si estas nubes ocultaban una estrella en su interior o si estaban compuestas únicamente en gas. Sin embargo, el reciente descubrimiento de una tercera nube de gas ayuda a responder estas preguntas.
Las observaciones se realizaron con el instrumento ERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph), instalado en el VLT de ESO, y que no solo puede obtener imágenes como la de esta Imagen de la Semana, sino también espectros. Gracias a ello, el equipo pudo medir las órbitas tridimensionales de las nubes que hay alrededor del agujero negro. Las nubes se mueven dentro de una región muy pequeña, situada en el centro de esta imagen de amplio campo. Se reveló que G1, G2 y G2t están en realidad en órbitas casi idénticas, solo que giradas ligeramente entre sí. Esto descarta la posibilidad de que cada nube oculte una estrella en su núcleo, ya que las probabilidades de que diferentes estrellas tengan órbitas casi idénticas son bajas. La similitud de las órbitas sugiere que las tres nubes probablemente comparten el mismo origen, probablemente IRS16SW, un par de estrellas masivas que expulsan una enorme cantidad de gas. A medida que IRS16SW se desplaza alrededor del agujero negro, cada nube de gas es expulsada en una órbita ligeramente diferente, lo que explica las pequeñas diferencias en las trayectorias del 'Trío G'.
Este descubrimiento muestra que, a pesar de décadas de monitorización de nuestro centro de la Vía Láctea, aún surgen nuevas curiosidades sin respuesta. Pero, ¿qué puede ser más emocionante que los misterios esperando ser resueltos?
Enlaces
Crédito:ESO/D. Ribeiro for the MPE GC team
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw2610a |
| Idioma: | es |
| Tipo: | Observación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 9 de Marzo de 2026 a las 09:00 |
| Tamaño: | 1139 x 1139 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | G1, G2, G2t, GCIRS 16SW |
| Tipo: | Milky Way : Star Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core |
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