Sept. 5, 2001: The Milky Way has a black hole

Today in the history of astronomy, NASA announces evidence of material being consumed by the black hole at the center of our galaxy, confirming its existence. | Published: September 5, 2026 In this false-color image, the strong flare observed by Chandra is the very bright spot at center. The dramatic flare lasted only about three hours. Credit: NASA/MIT/F.Baganoff et al. NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory is the agency’s flagship mission for X-ray astronomy. On Sept. 5, 2001, NASA announced that astronomers using Chandra in October of the previous year had witnessed a fast, strong X-ray flare coming from the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. This black hole, named Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) had long been assumed to be there – infrared and radio observations of the center of the Milky Way had indicated the presence of something large and dark. However, the faintness of the X-ray emissions seen from the supposed black hole puzzled scientists. The sharpness of the imagery from Chandra and the violence of the flare in 2000 dispelled any doubts: There is a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and it is actively eating. Research published over a decade later, also based on Chandra observations, would suggest that Sgr A* is faint in X-ray because it ejects most infalling materials – less than 1% make it to the event horizon. Elisa Neckar is senior production editor of Astronomy magazine, and the editor of the Today in the History of Astronomy feature on Astronomy.com.