NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has captured these first, focused views of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy in high-energy X-ray light. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Source: NASA
IS THIS a sign of the impending Mayan apocalypse? NASA has observed an eruption - from a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.
A series of blurry pictures snapped by NASA's NuSTAR telescope has captured the moment the black hole "burped" after chowing-down on a nearby star.
The pictures - blurry as they must be filtered from light-years worth of dust and intervening stars - are a lucky bonus for the $165 million observation campaign launched in June.
"This data will help us better understand the gentle giant at the heart of our galaxy and why it sometimes flares up for a few hours and then returns to slumber," a NASA spokesperson said.
The spectroscopic telescope was built to study high-energy events such as the turmoil around black holes.
It will spend most of its time examining violent black holes at the centre of galaxies.
The Milky Way's resident supermassive black hole - Sagittarius A - is unusually quiet. And that's probably a good thing.
The flares are believed to be caused when matter - usually dust or gas from nearby stars - falls within a black hole's irresistible grasp.
As the matter is pulled down, it heats up to over 100 million degrees Celsius and emits a blast of radiation - shortly before it is pulled beyond the point where even light cannot escape.
This particular eruption was also captured by other observatories: the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hawaii's Keck Observatory (infrared).
This simulation shows the approach and capture of a gas cloud by the black hole Sagittarius A, at the heart of our galaxy, that is due to take place between now and 2020.
All three will soon shift devote much of their attention to Sagittarius A.
And likely just in time: A huge cloud of dust and gas is known to be getting close enough to be sucked in sometime next year.
Scientists are so excited they have dedicated super-computer time to build simulations of what may happen to the cloud as it swirls around the black hole.
Some doomsday predictions citing the Mayan calendar and interpretations of mythological references say the Earth, Sun and centre of the Milky Way will come into alignment in December - causing an energetic chain of events that will disrupt our planet's magnetic field and lead to disaster.
NASA says there is no such special alignment, and, even if there was, it would produce no effect.
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