At the center of the Milky Way galaxy resides a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of our sun called Sagittarius A* that some scientists have called a gentle giant because of its quiescence. But someday it could become a beast.
An undated artist's impression shows the growing disc of material being pulled in by the black hole as it feeds on the gas available in its surroundings, making the galaxy SDSS1335+0728 light up. In late 2019, the galaxy SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever before and was classified as having an active...
The environment around a supermassive black hole can be extraordinarily violent, as it shreds stars and gulps any other material within its gravitational grasp. The researchers said it appears that a spinning disk of diffuse material has formed around the SDSS1335+0728 supermassive black hole, with some of the matter being consumed.
This galaxy, with a diameter of around 52,000 light years and a mass equivalent to about 10 billion sun-sized stars, had been observed for decades before sudden changes were detected in 2019. The luminosity at the heart of the galaxy has been rising in observations since then.
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