The supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way becomes more and more hungry

Last month, we learned that the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy was thinning, although no one really knew why. Astronomers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) revealed more about what they thought was driving this unprecedented event.

Located in the heart of the Milky Way, the Sagittarius A * or Sgr A * black hole is typically a relatively soft giant. But when astronomers analyzed 13,000 observations on 133 nights since 2003, they found that on May 13th of this year, the material around the black hole shone twice as loudly as usual. The same flare was observed two other nights this year as well. This indicates that the black hole consumes much more dust and gas than usual during these nights.

"We have never seen anything like this for 24 years as we study the supermassive black hole," said Andrea Ghez, professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA and co-author of the research, in a communicated. "It's usually a rather calm black hole and wimpy in a diet. We do not know what motivates this great feast. "

The first problem to be solved is whether it was a singular event or whether it indicated a drastic change in Sgr A * in the long run. "The big question is whether the black hole enters a new phase – for example, if the head has been raised and the rate of drop in the black hole has increased for an extended period of time – or if we are coming from see the fireworks of some unusual drops of gas falling in, "said Mark Morris, another co-author of the document, in the same statement.

Some of these unusual gas stains could come from the S0-2 star, which recently passed near the black hole but was not sucked. When it passed last summer, it could have lost much of the gas that took a long time to reach Sgr A * before falling and causing flares. Alternatively, the black hole could have sucked the outer layer of another object, called G2, which passed nearby in 2014. Another theory is that large asteroids were lured into the black hole and caused the eruptions .

In any case, the scientists reassured the public that Sgr A * may have been hungry, but that it does not represent a danger for humanity. It is 26,000 light-years away and should be 10 billion times brighter than the highest detected levels to affect us here on Earth.

The results are published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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