---
title: "Astronomers Detect Signal Coming From the Heart of Our Galaxy"
description: "Scientists found something peculiar coming from the center of the Milky Way galaxy: previously-undiscovered ripples that they think are coming from a supermassive black hole. The team of Keio University researchers think that the signal, far tinier than any previously detected, are caused when a black hole — like the one at our […]"
date: "2020-05-22"
modified: "2020-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-detect-signal-galaxy"
categories:
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "astrophysics"
  - "black hole"
  - "the digest"
---

# Astronomers Detect Signal Coming From the Heart of Our Galaxy

![Astronomers say they've found a new kind of signal coming from our galaxy's supermassive black hole, which they think are rapidly-rotating flare ups.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/alma-flickers-millimeter-waves-center-milky-way.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Keio University\</em\>*

## Flare Up

Scientists found something peculiar coming from the center of the Milky Way galaxy: a previously-undiscovered signal they think is coming from the [supermassive black hole](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ancient-supermassive-black-hole-pso-j0309>) at the heart of our galaxy.

The team of Keio University researchers think that the signal is caused when the accretion disk around the black hole flares up and give off extremely rapidly-rotating radio spots, [according to research](<https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab800d>) published last month in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters —* a glimpse at the unimaginable chaos at the core of our galaxy.

## Zooming In

The flickering signals aren't entirely new — scientists have previously discovered larger and slower flare ups. But thanks to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), now scientists can detect more minute emanations than ever before.

"This emission could be related with some exotic phenomena occurring at the very vicinity of the supermassive black hole," Keio University professor Tomoharu Oka [said in a press release](<https://phys.org/news/2020-05-alma-twinkling-heart-milky.html>).

## Smokescreen

The fluctuations likely come from the dizzying rotation of gas around the surface of the black hole— which could help explain [why it's so difficult](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/magnetar-blocked-view-galaxys-black-hole>) to directly observe it.

"In general, the faster the movement is, the more difficult it is to take a photo of the object," Oka said.

**READ MORE:** [ALMA spots twinkling heart of Milky Way](<https://phys.org/news/2020-05-alma-twinkling-heart-milky.html>) \[National Institutes of Natural Sciences\]

**More on supermassive black holes:** *[A Supermassive Black Hole Yeeted This Star at 3.7 Million MPH](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/supermassive-black-hole-yeeted-star-milky-way>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)