Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

This artist’s concept portrays the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (A-star). It’s surrounded by a swirling accretion disk of hot gas. The black hole’s gravity bends light from the far side of the disk, making it appear to wrap above and below the black hole.

Several flaring hot spots that resemble solar flares, but on a more energetic scale, are seen in the disk. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected both bright flares and fainter flickers coming from Sagittarius A*. The flickers are so rapid they must originate very close to the black hole.

Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute

Image Source: https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2025/news-2025-110

Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image Use Policy: http://stsci.edu/copyright/