The Awakening of Milky Way's Central Black Hole: Just 200 Years Ago!

NASA's IXPE telescope has revealed that the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, at the center of the Milky Way galaxy was actively devouring gas and cosmic debris just 200 years ago. Despite its current dormant state, recent X-ray studies have detected bright emissions from giant gaseous clouds near the black hole, suggesting a short-lived flare. Scientists will further investigate the observations to understand the distribution of the molecular clouds and the factors that could awaken the sleeping black hole.