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 Rocky Diet: Milky Way's black hole feeds on asteroids |
Thursday, 9 February 2012
 by Marc Pinter-Krainer 
The giant black hole at the centre of our Milky Way may be feeding on asteroids every day, a new study suggests
The supermassive black hole in the centre of our galaxy is emitting X-ray flares which could indicate it is "eating" asteroids.
The flares last a few hours at a time and occur about once a day. They have been detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has operated in space since 1999.
Scientists evaluating the data have now concluded that the flares are due to the Milky Way's giant black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, devouring large asteroids or even planets that stray within 100 million miles of its location.
The black hole, a huge object thought to have a mass of at least half a million Suns, pulls in, breaks up and vaporizes asteroids as they accelerate towards its massive centre. The observed flares are produced as each asteroid is eventually swallowed by the black hole.
Artist's illustration of asteroids falling into our galaxy's black hole
Illustration/Image credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
The scientists say in their study that the Milky Way's black hole is surrounded by a cloud of trillions of asteroids and comets.
Kastytis Zubovas of the University of Leicester in the UK commented:
"People have had doubts about whether asteroids could form at all in the harsh environment near a supermassive black hole," pointing out that "a huge number of them are needed to produce these flares."
"An asteroid's orbit can change if it ventures too close to a star or planet near Sgr A*," said co-author Sergei Nayakshin, also of the University of Leicester. "If it's thrown toward the black hole, it's doomed."
Only asteroids with a radius of at least six miles could produce flares bright enough to be observed by Chandra, the study concluded.
The center of the Milky Way is about 26,000 light years from Earth.
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