Early humans probably saw a super-massive black hole in the night sky

At the heart of the Milky Way lurks a snoozing monster

Black Hole Sagittarius A*
(Image credit: (NASA.gov))

At the center of the Milky Way galaxy, about 25,000 lightyears away from our tiny little blue planet, lurks a slumbering monster: A super-massive black hole that, according to astronomer estimates, is about the size of four million suns.

The date it was last active, gnashing on prodigious chunks of celestial matter and belching out powerful jets of stellar energy, has been something of a head-scratcher, though. And now, a new study from an international team of scientists may have stumbled on an answer...

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Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.