The Stars Feeding our Galaxy’s Monster

The picture shows the dynamic environment around the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, featuring the gas clouds G2, G2 and G2t alongside previously (Credit : ESO/D. Ribeiro for the MPE GC team)

At the heart of our Galaxy lurks a supermassive black hole four million times the mass of our Sun. For decades, astronomers have watched mysterious gas clouds drifting towards it on almost identical paths, wondering where they came from and why. Now, a team of researchers think they have finally cracked the puzzle and the answer involves two massive stars locked in a violent embrace!

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