A greedy black hole eats through two giant cosmic spirals

A Greedy Black Hole Eats Through Two Giant Cosmic Spirals

Astronomers have discovered that a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Circinus galaxy is feeding through two enormous spiral arms of gas.

This rare cosmic phenomenon shows how some of the universe’s hungriest objects gather their meals—and how surprisingly wasteful they can be.

The discovery, led by Wout Goesaert from Leiden University in the Netherlands, used data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.

The team’s results, soon to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and now available on the arXiv preprint server, provide a vivid look at how material flows toward black holes.

The Circinus galaxy, located about 13 million light-years from Earth, sits behind the Milky Way’s disk and was only discovered in 1977.

Author's summary: Astronomers discover black hole feeding on gas spirals.

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Knowridge Science Report Knowridge Science Report — 2025-10-20

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