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Astronomers watched the black hole in the center of our galaxy for 20 years, and in May, they saw something that they had never seen before.
Well, technically, they do not monitor the black hole itself, which scientists call Sagittarius A * or Sgr A *. Instead, they examine the question around this black hole. When the black hole of the Milky Way is more active than usual, this event horizon becomes brighter as it gets warmer because of friction. Of course, Sgr A * is quiet enough for a black hole, but in May that has changed, according to new research.
"The black hole is still variable, but it was the brightest we've seen in the infrared until now," said Tuan Do, astronomer at the University of California at Los Angeles, and lead author of the new study, says on Twitter. "It was probably even brighter before we started watching tonight!"
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This assumption is based on the fact that, when astronomers focused on the area on May 13, they only saw a relatively strong luminosity decrease, suggesting that the black hole had crossed an unknown peak even brighter. According to the new document, the recent burst brought Sgr A * to twice the brightness of the previous highest measurement to date.
Do and his colleagues made the observations using Keck telescopes located at the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. This instrument can see the world in near infrared light, which includes longer wave lengths than our eyes can see.
Here is a timelapse of images of more than 2.5 hours from May coming from @keckobservatory of the supermassive black hole Sgr A *. The black hole is still variable, but it was the brightest we have seen in the infrared until now. It was probably even brighter before we started watching tonight! pic.twitter.com/MwXioZ7twVAugust 11, 2019
They think that the black hole type rocket could have been caused by the near passing of a star called S0-2 last year or a dusty object called G2 in 2014.
Scientists hope that more observations from Sgr A * will help them understand what makes the huge black hole. These observations include measurements taken during the night of 13 to 14 August after a break due to events at Mauna Kea.
Related: The weirdest black holes in the universe
Other instruments, including the Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes and ground-based instruments, have reported the irregular operation of Sgr A * in recent months, although these data have not yet been analyzed. ART-XC, a new Russian space telescope launched about a month ago, has also turned its gaze towards the black hole although it is still in its calibration period.
The black hole is also the target of the Horizon Telescope Event, a collaboration that released the first image of a black hole in April. The historical image was that of the black hole in the heart of a galaxy called M87, but the scientists are also working on the treatment data on Sgr A *.
The original observations are described in a document posted on the pre-print server arXiv.org on August 5th which has recently been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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