Unprecedented Discoveries in Space: Echoes, Explosions, and X-ray Jets

New data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has provided evidence that Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, emerged from a long period of dormancy some 200 years ago. The X-ray echo detected reveals that the original intensity was at least a million times greater than that currently emitted by Sgr A*. The scientists used NASA's IXPE satellite, which was, for the first time, able to detect the polarization of this X-ray light with great precision and also determine its source, something that had previously proved impossible.