Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, is surrounded by flares that vary in brightness and duration. The team observed 48 hours of activity, capturing five to six large flares a day, along with several smaller bursts.
The accretion disk around the black hole appears to be constantly changing, producing bright bursts of radiation that resemble solar flares. Researchers believe two processes are responsible for these events: turbulence in the accretion disk and magnetic reconnection events. The latter occurs when two magnetic fields collide, releasing bright blasts of particles.
The study also found a time delay between observations at different wavelengths, with shorter-wavelength events changing brightness before longer-wavelength ones. This phenomenon could provide clues to the physical processes at work in the disk.
Future observations are planned to observe Sagittarius A* for 24 hours, which would help reduce noise and reveal more details about the black hole’s activity. By analyzing these flares, researchers hope to better understand the behavior of our galaxy’s center and possibly answer questions about the nature of supermassive black holes.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/black-hole-at-the-center-of-our-galaxy-seen-bubbling-with-activity