Astronomers have released a time lapse video depicting record amounts of light swirling around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy.
The 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� observation was made in May when researchers at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii witnessed the central region of the Milky Way galaxy known as 鈥淪agittarius A*鈥� (or Sgr A* for short) grow 75 times brighter in a span of less than three hours.
鈥淚t was probably even brighter before we started observing that night!鈥� wrote astronomer Tuan Do in a tweet sharing the . Do鈥檚 team published a paper earlier this month about the discovery in .
Researchers were unable to conclusively say what led to record levels of light near the supermassive black hole, but offered some guesses, including light from a passing star in 2018, or a 鈥渄elayed reaction鈥� to the approach of an object in 2014. Black holes don鈥檛 emit light themselves. Instead, we are able to observe their shadows as light escapes into them.
鈥淭he brightness variations come from the light of hot gas falling towards the black hole, before it crosses the event horizon,鈥� wrote Do.
Such was the case in April when an international group of researchers released the first real image of a supermassive black hole.
Do assured Twitter users on Wednesday that Earthlings had nothing to worry about as it 鈥渨ill not affect the Earth.鈥�
鈥淲hile it is very bright compared to historical data, it is not enough to affect us,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淓njoy the fireworks and we hope to learn some cool black hole physics!鈥�
