Observing a Black Hole

Always interested in Astronomy can't help but be fascinated by Black Holes. This is about a rare event, at least rare in that we are privileged to be in a position to observe and learn from it.

How a Black Hole Really Works

The black hole at the center of our galaxy has been on a near-starvation diet for almost a million years—but now it's time for a snack.

Scientists in Garching, Germany, are closely watching a rare event some 26,000 light years away: a supermassive black hole in the act of devouring a huge gas cloud. It's providing the first-ever glimpse of how a black hole uses its massive gravitational power to pull in and consume interstellar materials—a little understood phenomenon.

"The cloud is being torn apart," said Stefan Gillessen of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, who first brought the event to the world's attention in 2011.

FULL STORY - Wall Street Journal