Chandra Release - October 24, 2013

Visual Description: Sagittarius A*

The image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals a dramatic scene at the center of the Milky Way, where the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), resides.  Sgr A* is marked by an asterisk at the middle right of the image.  The region around Sgr A* is illuminated by light echoes—reflections of past outbursts from the black hole. These echoes are caused by X-rays bouncing off gas clouds light-years away, similar to how sound bounces off canyon walls. The image showcases regions where the X-ray emission, shown as blue clumps splattered to the left side, appears to move away from the black hole, dimming or brightening as the X-rays interact with the reflecting material.  The image stacks 5 Chandra observations from 1999 through 2011 and shows the changes in between those times.