News Astronomy

The Milky Way’s black hole is constantly bubbling

Two different types of flares light up the galactic center

Glowing lines surround and warp around a black circle

The disk of hot plasma surrounding Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s central black hole, constantly flickers and bubbles in this artist’s illustration.

NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

By Lisa Grossman

The black hole at the Milky Way’s heart neither slumbers nor sleeps. Instead, the ring of plasma surrounding it flickers constantly, punctuated by superbright flares, observations show.

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe Sgr A* and its disk for hours at a time over the course of a year, from April 2023 through April 2024.