Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole situated at the center of the Milky Way, typically remains in a dormant state. However, on certain occasions, it appears to wake up, resulting in heightened activity.

A significant event occurred in the recent past when this dormant black hole suddenly awakened and started an intense feeding frenzy, consuming the surrounding cosmic debris with great vigor. This extraordinary activity persisted for over a year and gave rise to a powerful burst of radiation, surpassing its current levels by nearly a million times.

And the most mind-blowing thing about this is that NASA has recorded the echoes of this exciting black hole event. These echoes detected by NASA show that the supermassive black hole lying at the center of our galaxy woke up just 200 years ago.

But the most important question is how did scientists come to know that such an event occurred at that time? What exactly happened at the center of the Milky Way that produced this intense burst of energy? Finally, and most importantly, what does this discovery tell us about the environment at the heart of our galaxy?

The 65th episode of the Sunday Discovery Series answers these questions in detail.

All Episodes Of The Series: https://bit.ly/369kG4p
Basics of Astrophysics series: https://bit.ly/3xII54M

RESEARCH PAPER:
X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year old flare of Sgr A*, Marin et. al (Nature) - https://bit.ly/44oKqmc

Created By: Rishabh Nakra
Written & Researched By: Simran Buttar
Narrated By: Jeffrey Smith