---
title: "Our Galaxy’s Central Black Hole Seems to Be Chilling Out for Some Reason"
description: "Research suggests that the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is spinning extremely slowly compared to others."
date: "2020-10-29"
modified: "2020-10-29"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/galaxy-central-black-hole-chilling-out"
categories:
  - "Astrophysics"
  - "Black Holes"
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "astrophysics"
  - "black hole"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Our Galaxy’s Central Black Hole Seems to Be Chilling Out for Some Reason

![Research suggests that the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is spinning extremely slowly compared to others.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/galaxy-central-black-hole-taking-breather.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: ESO/M. Kornmesser\</em\>*

## Water Break

Most of the supermassive black holes which lurk at the cores of galaxies spin at boggling speeds.

But compared to them, *[Live Science ](<https://www.livescience.com/supermassive-black-hole-barely-spinning.html>)*[reports](<https://www.livescience.com/supermassive-black-hole-barely-spinning.html>), the Milky Way's central black hole seems content to take it slow and steady. New research suggests that our black hole spins much slower than others, which has far-reaching implications for the star systems located toward the innermost reaches of the galaxy.

## Stretching Out

A fast-spinning black hole will drag anything orbiting nearby into the trail of its spin, *Live Science* reports, not unlike how the outer arms of the Milky Way spiral around the center of the galaxy. But [research published this month](<https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abb9b4>) in *the Astrophysical Journal Letters* found that a network of stars very close to our black hole still follow their original orbits.

These stars are particularly old — so if our black hole was spinning fast, they would have long since been dragged off course. As a result, the Harvard and Northwestern University scientists behind the study found that our central black hole is spinning — at the absolute most — at ten percent the speed of light. Compared to its peers, that's barely a crawl.

## Nice And Easy

That slow spin — which *Live Science* reports could be confirmed by upcoming research attempting to directly image the area around the black hole — also explains why the black hole is particularly calm.

Faster-spinning supermassive black holes will blast out powerful jets of the matter [they gobble up](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/black-hole-spin-speed-devour-star>), and no such jets seem to be emerging from the Milky Way, so maybe we shouldn't tease the black hole for slowing down a bit.

**READ MORE:** [The Milky Way's quiet, introverted monster won't spin](<https://www.livescience.com/supermassive-black-hole-barely-spinning.html>) \[*Live Science*\]

**More on black holes:** *[Scientists Release Incredible Video of Black Hole Spewing Matter](<https://futurism.com/scientists-video-black-hole-spewing-matter>)*

## 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>)