Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Has Become 75 Times Brighter

At the center of every galaxy is a supermassive black hole, a place where anything can be devoured to the point of no return. Recently, astronomers announced that last May one of these deadly masses, specifically Sagittarius A * located in the Milky Way, suddenly became 75 times brighter than usual. So, what exactly was the duration of this phenomenon? And what is the explanation of scientists?

The Milky Way's supermassive black hole spontaneously lit up

A relatively calm black hole, Sagittarius A * surprised the team of astronomers at the University of California in the United States, suddenly becoming much brighter than usual. 75 times brighter more precisely. The unprecedented phenomenon lasted for only two hours and in 20 years of observations, the deadly mass has never been noticed so bright.

As of yet, astronomers have no exact explanation of what caused the supermassive black hole's unusual behavior, but since then have been working stubbornly to figure out what happened. According to them, there are two possible explanations: the passage of the star S0-2 or a large cloud of dust.

The passage of the star S0-2 near the black hole is quite likely to cause a change in the behavior of the deadly mass. The proximity of the huge dust cloud G2 can also cause such a reaction.