Something near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way has been firing regular blasts of high-energy gamma-rays toward Earth, and scientists may finally know what it is.
In new non-peer-reviewed research posted to the preprint server arXiv, a duo of astrophysicists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico conclude that the bursts of radiation are emanating from a blob of gas spinning around the black hole at almost one-third the speed of light. The team's findings may solve a mystery regarding the Milky Way's central black hole — formally named Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) and located around 26,700 light-years from Earth — that has perplexed astronomers for two years .
