Sagittarius A*
Astronomers have detected the largest X-ray flare ever from the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This event was 400 times brighter than the usual X-ray output from Sgr A*. Shown in this series of images is the area around Sgr A* in a Chandra image where low, medium, and high-energy X-rays are red, green, and blue respectively. A second image contains an X-ray movie of the region close to Sgr A* and shows the giant flare, along with much steadier X-ray emission from a nearby magnetar, to the lower left. A magnetar is a neutron star with a strong magnetic field.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/Amherst College/D.Haggard et al.)