Our galaxy’s huge black hole may have created organic molecules

By Leah Crane

M. KORNMESSER / EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way may have been crucial to the evolution of life in the galaxy.

These days, the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, is relatively calm. But there are hints that millions of years ago it may have been much more active, swallowing down matter and spewing out high-energy radiation including large amounts of X-rays.

Xian Chen at Peking University in Beijing, China, and his colleagues simulated how these …