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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Dark Matter May Power the Milky Way’s Core, Not a Black Hole

For decades, astronomers have believed that a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) sits at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. This invisible giant was thought to control the fast-moving stars near the galactic core and help shape the motion of the entire galaxy.

But now, a groundbreaking new study suggests something even more mysterious may be at work.

Instead of a black hole, scientists propose that the Milky Way’s heart could be powered by a dense core of dark matter—an exotic substance that makes up most of the universe but cannot be seen directly. The research, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could radically change how we understand our galaxy.

Rethinking the Galaxy’s Dark Center

At the center of the Milky Way lies a crowded region filled with stars, gas, and dust. Among these are the famous S-stars, which orbit extremely close to the galactic core at incredible speeds—sometimes reaching thousands of kilometers per second.

These dramatic movements have long been used as strong evidence for a supermassive black hole.

However, an international team of researchers now argues that a special form of dark matter could explain these motions just as well.

They suggest that dark matter made of tiny particles called fermions can naturally form a unique structure:

  • A super-dense inner core

  • Surrounded by a vast, diffuse outer halo

Together, these two parts behave like a single object.

The inner core would be so compact and heavy that it could imitate the gravitational pull of a black hole, controlling the orbits of nearby stars and mysterious dust-covered objects known as G-sources. Meanwhile, the outer halo would extend across the galaxy, influencing how stars move far from the center.

In other words, the same dark matter structure could explain both the galaxy’s heart and its outer regions.

Dark Matter: The Invisible Majority

Dark matter is one of the biggest puzzles in modern science. Although it cannot be seen, touched, or detected directly, scientists know it exists because of its gravitational effects.

Observations show that galaxies rotate too fast to be held together by visible matter alone. Dark matter provides the extra gravity needed to keep everything from flying apart.

In fact, dark matter makes up about 85% of all matter in the universe.

The new study takes this idea further by proposing that dark matter doesn’t just surround galaxies—it may also form their central engines.

Gaia’s Clues from the Galaxy’s Edge

A key piece of evidence comes from the European Space Agency’s Gaia DR3 mission, which has created the most detailed map ever of stars in the Milky Way.

Gaia measured how stars and gas move in the galaxy’s outer halo. It discovered a slowdown in rotational speed at great distances from the center, a pattern known as Keplerian decline.

The researchers found that this behavior fits naturally with their fermionic dark matter model.

Traditional dark matter theories predict wide, slowly fading halos. But the fermionic model creates a more compact structure, matching Gaia’s observations when combined with normal matter such as stars and gas.

This connection between the galaxy’s core and its outer edges strengthens the idea that both are shaped by the same dark matter system.

One Substance, Two Faces

Dr. Carlos Argüelles, a co-author of the study, explains the importance of this result:

“We are not just replacing the black hole with a dark object. We are proposing that the supermassive central object and the galaxy’s dark matter halo are two manifestations of the same, continuous substance.”

This is the first time a dark matter model has successfully explained:

  • The fast orbits of central stars

  • The movement of distant galactic matter

  • And the overall structure of the Milky Way

all within a single framework.

Can Dark Matter Cast a “Black Hole Shadow”?

One of the strongest pieces of evidence for Sgr A* being a black hole came in 2022, when the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) released the first image of its shadow—a dark region surrounded by a glowing ring of light.

Surprisingly, earlier research showed that dense fermionic dark matter cores could produce a very similar shadow-like feature.

Lead author Valentina Crespi explains:

“The dense dark matter core can bend light so strongly that it creates a central darkness surrounded by a bright ring, just like a black hole.”

This means the famous image alone may not be enough to prove a black hole’s existence at the Milky Way’s center.

Black Hole or Dark Matter? The Final Test

To compare both ideas, researchers statistically analyzed the traditional black hole model and the new dark matter model.

So far, current data cannot clearly rule out either option when looking only at nearby stars. But the dark matter approach has a major advantage: it explains both the galactic center and the galaxy as a whole in one unified picture.

Future observations may provide the decisive answer.

Powerful instruments like the GRAVITY interferometer on Chile’s Very Large Telescope will measure star motions with extreme precision. Scientists will also search for photon rings—a unique feature expected around true black holes but missing in dark matter cores.

If these rings are not found, it would strongly support the dark matter scenario.

A New Chapter in Cosmic Understanding

This bold idea challenges one of astronomy’s most famous assumptions. If confirmed, it would mean that the Milky Way does not contain a supermassive black hole at its center—but instead hosts an extraordinary concentration of dark matter.

Such a discovery would reshape our understanding of:

  • Galactic formation

  • Dark matter behavior

  • And the fundamental structure of the universe

The heart of our galaxy may still be dark—but it could be revealing secrets that change science forever.

Reference: V Crespi, C R Argüelles, E A Becerra-Vergara, M F Mestre, F Peißker, J A Rueda, R Ruffini, The dynamics of S-stars and G-sources orbiting a supermassive compact object made of fermionic dark matter, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 546, Issue 1, February 2026, staf1854, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1854

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