"Echoes of the Milky Way's Black Hole Blast 200 Years Ago Revealed"

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*, emitted a massive outburst of X-rays around 200 years ago, which was reflected off of immense clouds of star-forming molecular gas in the galaxy's central region. NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite has found evidence of this event and estimated its duration to be less than a year-and-a-half. The outburst increased the black hole's X-ray luminosity a millionfold compared to its dormant state today, and the total amount of energy released is estimated to be between 1039 – 1044 ergs.