Supermassive Black Hole In Milky Way Galaxy Produces Biggest Flare Yet

Scientists have recorded the largest X-ray flare ever detected from the giant black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, according to NASA.

NASA said the flare was detected by astronomers using its Chandra X-ray Observatory. The black hole, called Sagittarius A*, contains about 4.5 million times the mass of the sun.

The astronomers unexpectedly discovered the flare while they were observing how Sagittarius A* would react to a cloud of gas called G2, NASA added.

Astronomer Daryl Haggard from Amherts College in Massachusetts was quoted by NASA as saying that, "Unfortunately, the G2 gas cloud didn't produce the fireworks we were hoping for when it got close to Sgr A*. However, nature often surprises us and we saw something else that was really exciting."

The team of scientists first discovered a flare on Sept. 14, 2013. Last October, the Chandra X-ray Observatory observed a new X-ray flare "200 times brighter than usual."

NASA said the scientists estimated that G2 was closest to the black hole in the spring of 2014.

In explaining the flare, the researchers theorized that an asteroid came too close to the black hole and was broken down by gravity.

"If an asteroid was torn apart, it would go around the black hole for a couple of hours – like water circling an open drain – before falling in. That's just how long we saw the brightest X-ray flare last, so that is an intriguing clue for us to consider," co-author Fred Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts told NASA.

If this is true, the researchers may have discovered the evidence for the largest asteroid to produce the X-ray flare.

NASA said the second theory is that "the magnetic field lines within the gas flowing towards Sgr A* could be tightly packed and become tangled."

The filed lines, it said, may occasionally reconfigure themselves and produce flares of X-rays.

Co-author Gabriele Ponti of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany told NASA that "The bottom line is the jury is still out on what's causing these giant flares from Sgr A*."

The findings were made public at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle.