Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/D. Wang et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/D.Wang et al.; IR: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSC/S.Stolov. - Click image to enlarge to 1,200 x 600.
Abode of the Sleeping Beast - The Geometric Center of the Galaxy
Astronomers have long wondered why it is that the super-massive black hole in the center of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*, containing about 4 million times the mass of our Sun is relatively quiet. Yet, despite its size, the energy radiated from its surroundings is billions of times weaker than black holes at the core of other galaxies. In fact, it was a million times brighter three centuries ago when must have unleashed an incredibly powerful flare.
The center of our Milky Way is surprisingly difficult to observe from our location, hidden about 24000 lightyears away behind enormously thick clouds of gas and dust within the Galactic disk. But today's super observatories powerful telescopes can reveal all its secrets. Above is a color-coded overlay of an infrared image (in red) of the center of the Milky Way obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope, an optical image (in yellow) from Hubble, and an X-ray image (in blue) from Chandra which highlights the bright white patch on the lower right [above; in the center below] where our own supermassive black hole resides.
"We have wondered why the Milky Way’s black hole appears to be a slumbering giant," saysTatsuya Inui of Kyoto University in Japan. "But now we realize that the black hole was far more active in the past. Perhaps it’s just resting after a major outburst." -- continued at The Daily Galaxy
Image Credit: NASA/CXC/MIT/F. Baganoff, R. Shcherbakov et al.
Click image to enlarge to 4,000 x 3,126.
Read more about Sag A* at NASA: Into the Heart of Darkness
h/t: spacefuture
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