At the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy rests a supermassive black hole. Although it has been under observation since its discovery, it got more attention recently when it suddenly glowed. Scientists who were able to observe it described the glow as something far brighter than the usual. In fact, its luminance reached the level of 75% than the usual before going back to the usual.
Scientists are still trying to figure out what may have caused it. It has been considered as the brightest glow it has ever made by a black hole. It was known as Sagittarius A. its light emissions are measured in near-infrared wavelengths.
Tuan Do, a researcher from the University of California in Los Angeles told ScienceAlert during an interview that he became excited when he saw what was happening.
"At first I was surprised, but then I got excited. The black hole became so bright that I mistook it for a kind of star known as SO-2. That's because I have never seen a Sagittarius A that is as bright as this one, before," Do said.
"Over the next few frames, it was clear that the source of the light was variable, so we concluded that it must be the black hole that lit up." he added.
Tuan Do and the rest of the team that has witnessed the glowing of the black hole concluded that there must be something going on in the black hole. They could only assume it to be interesting. The Sagittarius A has been known to pull in gas clouds, stars, and small planets. It uses its huge gravity to devour all these other space elements into its hole.
Supermassive black holes like the one in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy is known to generate a huge amount of energy. Just like all the other supermassive black holes found at the center of the galaxy, it is able to emit an energetic phenomenon that is the strongest known in the universe.
Researchers believe that the strange "glow" that came from the black hole is caused by stars or gas clouds that have been orbiting the enormous black hole. During one of his interviews, Do mention that "one of the possibilities is that a star S0-2 that passed by the black hole must have changed the way gas flows from within. This may have led to gas falling on it, leading it to become more variable."
