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There\u2019s plenty of action at the center of the galaxy, where a supermassive black hole (SMBH) known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) literally holds the galaxy together. Part of that action is the creation of gigantic flares from Sgr A*, which can give off energy equivalent to 10 times the Sun\u2019s annual energy output. However, scientists have been missing a key feature of these flares for decades \u2013 what they look like in the mid-infrared range. But now, a team led by researchers at Harvard\u2019s Center for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy has published a paper that details what a flare looks like in those frequencies for the first time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Astronomers have been observing Sgr A* since the 1990s and have known about the flares, which were initially seen as variances in the SMBH\u2019s brightness. It has been observed with all manner of telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray observatory and, perhaps most famously, the Event Horizon Telescope, which was responsible for the famous first image of M87*, another black hole at the center of the Messier galaxy. EHT also released an image from Sgr A* itself in May of 2022.<\/p>\n So far, those observations have been in visible light through infrared and from far infrared up through X-rays. There has always been a gap in the middle of the infrared range. Several factors explain this gap.<\/p>\n \n