Time is dibsing front-row seats to the (potentially) big show when a black hole slurps down a gas cloud this fall:
Back in 2011, astronomers spotted an interstellar gas cloud plunging more or less toward the Milky Way’s own supermassive black hole, which is about the mass of four million Suns. And by the scientists’ calculations, the cloud will meet its doom this coming September or October. “The impact will be deeper and more exciting than we thought,” says Stefan Gillessen, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, in Garching, Germany, and the lead author of the Nature report that first announced the cloud’s existence.
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The bits of cloud may eventually funnel into the black hole itself, orbiting faster and faster, like water spiraling down a drain as the cloud’s own internal friction heats it to millions of degrees, giving off bursts of energy as it goes. Nobody knows quite how long it might take for that to happen. “I don’t necessarily expect fireworks next fall,” says Genzel, “but there could be. It might be that bits and pieces might shoot directly in.”
Astronomers around the world will be tuned in just in case. “People will be looking with telescopes in all wavebands, from radio to gamma rays,” says Gillesen. “There’s a list of proposals from those who want to observe it. We’ll certainly see the cloud shredded this year,” he says. “Whether we see something more…well, that’s the fun part.”