Supermassive black hole feeding and feedback observed on sub-parsec scales

Understand

Active galaxies contain a supermassive black hole at their center, which grows by accreting matter from the surrounding galaxy.

• The accretion process in the central ~10 parsecs has not been directly resolved in previous observations, due to the small apparent angular sizes involved.
• We observed the active nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy using sub-millimeter interferometry.
• A dense inflow of molecular gas is evident on sub-parsec scales.