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Flaring Disk Around Milky Way’s Black Hole (Artist’s Concept)

A large, black circle representing a black hole occupies the right third of the frame in this illustration. Thick, clumpy orange streaks arc above and below it, essentially surrounding it. The top arc extends down to the lower left and then curves around in front of the black hole to form a disk that is tilted toward the viewer. Near the inner edge of the disk, several bright, whiter spots have blue filaments looping above them, representing flares. The words “Artist’s Concept” appear below the illustration.

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.

  • Release Date
    February 18, 2025
  • Science Release
    Webb Reveals Rapid-Fire Light Show From Milky Way’s Central Black Hole
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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Related Images & Videos

A mostly black image with a fuzzy yellow-white spot in the middle

Infrared Flickers and Flares from Sagittarius A*

This timelapse video compresses about 9 hours of infrared observations by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into 30 seconds. Webb observed the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (A-star). Webb detected both faint flickers and brighter flares (one...

A mostly black field. At left is a fuzzy yellow-white spot. The right two-thirds of the frame is occupied by a graph. The y axis is labeled relative brightness and has an up arrow. The x axis is labeled time, hours, and has tick marks from 0 to 9. A yellow line that wiggles up and down with randomly spaced peaks goes from 0 to 6 hours. The graph is labeled April 7, 2024.

Observations and Light Curve of Sagittarius A*

This timelapse video shows observations of the Milky Way’s central black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (A-star), by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. At left, NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) images, created by combining data at wavelengths of 2.1 and 4.8 microns, show a point of...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Illustration Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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