May 30, 2012 | Pippa

Ever worry about being sucked into a black hole?

Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Huge jets of gamma rays coming from the object’s centre have been spied by a telescope.

This tells scientists that in the past Sagittarius A* was more active than was previously thought, and that it was active as recently as 50,000 years ago. The black hole’s current size – a mystery until now – has also been explained.