It looks like a faint quasar and is believed to be powered by gaseous matter falling into a supermassive black hole with 2.6 million times the mass of our sun. Theorists are eager to hear the results of our observation so they can test their ideas. This new result provides fresh insight that will no doubt stir heated debates on these issues. This poses a problem for theorists. The galactic center is a crowded place.
Astronomers believe that most galaxies harbor massive black holes at their centers.
Many of these black holes are thought to produce powerful and brilliant point-like sources of light that astronomers call quasars and active galactic nuclei. Why the center of our galaxy is so dim is a long-standing puzzle. Although more than 1,000 supernovae have been observed by optical astronomers, the early X-ray glow from the explosions has been detected in less than a dozen cases. The Chandra observations were made under the direction of a team of scientists from MIT led by Walter Lewin, professor of physics, and graduate student Derek Fox. When combined with simultaneous observations by radio and optical telescopes, the X-ray observations give astronomers deeper insight into the last days in the life of a massive star.