Credit: NASA/CXC/MPE/G.Ponti et al; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

The artist's illustrations in the top panels represent a possible explanation for a recent increase in X-ray flares from Sgr A* seen by three telescopes including Chandra. As part of a long monitoring campaign, astronomers observed Sgr A* as a mysterious object called G2 appeared to pass close to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole. The timing of G2's passage could suggest that material from G2 caused the surge in X-ray activity, but it is also possible that this unrelated behavior of Sgr A*. The image at the bottom of the panel is Chandra's view of the region around Sgr A*, where red, green, and blue show low, medium, and high-energy X-rays detected by Chandra,

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2015/sgra2/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html