Webb Telescope Reveals Black Hole's Flickering Heart

The James Webb Space Telescope offers unprecedented observations of the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center. Its findings, showcasing steady flickering and bright flares from the surrounding accretion disk, provide insights into the chaotic interactions around the black hole. Sgr A* remains relatively less active compared to others spiral cores.

The James Webb Space Telescope is delivering the clearest view of activities around the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, named Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). The new observations show a steady flickering punctuated by occasional bright flares from the material drawn inward by the black hole’s immense gravity.

For the first time, astronomers can continuously observe the Sgr A* region for extended periods. The flickering light comes from the accretion disk — a swirling disk of gas surrounding the black hole — with material near the event horizon, beyond which everything, including light, is inescapably pulled.

As reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the observations reveal patterns of activity around Sgr A*. Despite its chaotic nature, characterized by turbulent and compressed gas due to strong gravitational and magnetic forces, Sgr A* is comparatively less active than black holes at the center of other galaxies.