WASHINGTON, D.C.--Massive black holes at the centers of galaxies
are insatiable, but astronomers have never seen one eat. Now,
telescopes have provided the closest look yet at gas spiraling
toward a feeding frenzy at the heart of a turbulent galaxy. The
process, described here 9 January at a meeting of the American
Astronomical Society, may fuel the outbursts of energy that rage
inside all active galaxies. Black holes and their surroundings
are far too compact for telescopes to resolve. The best
astronomers can do is infer the presence of the holes by
watching stars or gas revolve around them, like leaves caught in
a whirlpool. Recently, a study at the European Southern
Observatory (ESO) exposed what appeared to be streamers of gas
channeling toward the center of an active spiral galaxy called
NGC 1097, about 47 million light-years away. However, the ESO
astronomers did not measure the motions of the gas. The new
study charted those motions and tracked them within regions 10
times closer to the black hole tha