These findings combine computer simulations with data from recent exoplanet findings, as well as X-ray and ultraviolet observations of stars and black holes.
"It's pretty wild to think of black holes shaping the evolutionary destiny of a planet, but that very well may be the case in the center of our galaxy," said Howard Chen of Northwestern University in Illinois, who led the study.
Chen and collaborators from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) examined the environment around the closest supermassive black hole to Earth: the 4 million solar mass black hole known as Sagittarius A*.
It is well known that material falling into the black hole in occasional feeding frenzies will generate bright flares of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation. Indeed, X-ray telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton have seen evidence for bright outbursts generated in the past, ranging from about 6 million years to just over a century ago.
Continued...
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"It's pretty wild to think of black holes shaping the evolutionary destiny of a planet, but that very well may be the case in the center of our galaxy," said Howard Chen of Northwestern University in Illinois, who led the study.
Chen and collaborators from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) examined the environment around the closest supermassive black hole to Earth: the 4 million solar mass black hole known as Sagittarius A*.
It is well known that material falling into the black hole in occasional feeding frenzies will generate bright flares of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation. Indeed, X-ray telescopes such as NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton have seen evidence for bright outbursts generated in the past, ranging from about 6 million years to just over a century ago.
Continued...
Source