Did you know that our Milky Way galaxy is not such a peaceful place? So, right in its very center is a giant black hole, which is almost 5 million times more massive than our Sun! Despite its colossal size, this black hole is still a relatively calm object, compared to the same formations in neighboring galaxies. However, imagine the surprise of scientists when they were able to discover that our rather quiet black hole in a few hours suddenly increased in brightness as much as 75 times! How and why could this happen?
What is a black hole?
A black hole is a region of space-time where the gravitational attraction is so enormous that even light cannot leave this very specific region. The closest black hole to us, V616 Monocerotis, is so far away that it will take you about 3000 years to reach it.
Despite the fact that the black hole in the center of our galaxy is a huge monster called Sagittarius A *, it is relatively harmless to anyone at a respectable distance from it. By the way, we are among the lucky ones.
Why is a black hole flaring up?
Due to the fact that the central part of our galaxy is usually in a relatively calm state, little is known about the nature of the mysterious anomaly. The flash of a black hole is not visible in optical light, so scientists were able to distinguish it only in the infrared region of the spectrum.
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Researchers believe that something might have disturbed the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Most likely, such a malicious object could be one of the stars adjacent to the hole. For example, the star S2. The fact is that this incredible star rotates in an elliptical orbit around Sagittarius A *, often approaching and moving away from him. So, in mid-2018, the fearless star was only 17 light-hours from the black hole.
It is possible that it was the close approach of S2 that disrupted the way in which energy enters the black hole of our galaxy.
Despite its colossal size, the Milky Way is a completely ordinary spiral galaxy.
Another possible "malicious violator" of the rest of the black hole was a kind of gas cloud. Back in 2002, astronomers saw what, in their opinion, could be a cloud of hydrogen, approaching the center of Sagittarius A *. They measured the temperature of the cloud at 10,000 Kelvin and were able to measure its trajectory. In 2013, the cloud was believed to be close enough to the black hole for tidal forces to tear it apart.
Astronomers originally thought that gas from a hydrogen cloud could be sucked into a black hole and that it would burst into flames when heated. However, in 2013 all this never happened. Perhaps the black hole was simply not hungry and simply postponed its lunch for several years, and we could see the consequences of this decision in the form of the brightest flash in the center of our galaxy not in 2013, but in 2019.
Daria Eletskaya