A team of astrophysicists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gained a detailed glimpse into the swirling disk of gas and dust surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The observations revealed constant, changing brightness with no periods of rest, including short flickers lasting mere seconds and blindingly bright eruptions that spew daily.
The study found that five to six big flares occur per day, along with several small sub-flares or bursts in between. Researchers suspect two separate processes are responsible for the short bursts and longer flares: minor disturbances within the accretion disk generating faint flickers, and magnetic reconnection events releasing energy in the form of accelerated particles.
To further explore these questions, Yusef-Zadeh and his team hope to use Webb to observe Sagittarius A* for a longer period of time. This would enable them to see even finer details and potentially reduce noise, allowing them to identify if the flares are truly random or repeating themselves. The new findings could help physicists better understand black holes, their surrounding environments, and the dynamics and evolution of our own galaxy.
Source: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/webb-reveals-rapid-fire-light-show-from-milky-ways-central-black-hole