Black Hole to provide a once in two million years display

Bill Boddy

Professional layabout
Contributor
You know the way they sometimes represent the central black hole in artists' impressions of the galactic centre? Sometimes it's the picture of ordinary stars orbiting around a dim five-branch star, or a tiny ring on a dark background...

Does anybody else feel something slightly eerie when they look at an illustration of the central object?

sagittarius_a_03.jpg
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It's strange really, I find it very eerie looking at it and have no idea why.
It's only fairly recent that astrophysicists have begun to understand the extent to which supermassive black holes are instrumental in shaping the galaxies around them, so maybe the eerie feeling comes from a sort of "What, that thing we can't even understand is pulling the strings of everything around it, including our own existence?"...
 
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I haven't seen anything so far which indicates how long it will last but I would hazard a guess at a longish time such as weeks. One thing that does seem likely is that it will be hidden behind the clouds, necessitating waiting another two million years.
 
I believe that Supermassive Black Holes (feed) for a long time. So this new fuzzy moon may be around for some time. And I thought that Sagittarius A's black hole was the centre of our galaxy.
 
I believe that Supermassive Black Holes (feed) for a long time. So this new fuzzy moon may be around for some time. And I thought that Sagittarius A's black hole was the centre of our galaxy.
I believe there are at least 3 supermassive black holes at the centre of our galaxy.
 
Sagittarius A actually refers to the area where the galactic centre is located, and it is believed there are a multitude of smaller black holes within.
Sagittarius A* (a-star) specifically refers to the area where the central supermassive black hole is believed to be located.
That was my pedantic comment for the day. Thank you.
 
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