Fireworks at the Galactic Center Black Hole

Explore the fascinating world of supermassive black holes in this public lecture by Stefan Gillessen from The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Delve into the gravity monster at the center of the Milky Way, a black hole with a mass 4 million times that of the Sun, concentrated in a volume comparable to our solar system. Learn about its current low-activity state and the potential for dramatic change as a recently discovered gas cloud approaches. Discover how astronomers observed the onset of the cloud's disruption by the black hole's tidal forces and anticipate the possibility of increased accretion and luminosity in the coming years. Gain insights into cutting-edge galactic center research and the global astronomical community's excitement about upcoming observations of this cosmic event.