Sep 5 2001
From The Space Library
For the first time, astronomers detected a supermassive black hole consuming material in the Milky Way. Frederick K. Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a team of scientists using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe a source of radio emissions called Sagittarius A* had noticed a rapid rise and decline in x-ray emissions in its vicinity. The scientists, who believed that Sagittarius A* is connected to a black hole in the center of the galaxy, speculated that the emissions emanate from matter falling into the black hole. The Chandra observations had provided the best view yet of the area just outside of the black hole’s event horizon~the point of no return for all matter falling into a black hole. The discovery added significantly to previous research indicating that the Milky Way Galaxy contains a black hole or some other large, dark object. (NASA, “Chandra Catches Milky Way Monster Snacking,” news release 01-179, 5 September 2001.)
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