Black Hole Awakens ft. Dr. Paula Sánchez-Sáez

In late 2019, an unremarkable galaxy with the catalog number SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever. Curious as to why, astronomers used data from space and ground-based observatories to track changes in the galaxy's brightness and concluded that we are witnessing the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at the galaxy's core. The results were published in Astronomy & Astrophysics in June 2024 with lead author Paula Sánchez Sáez, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. Join Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center, Simon Steel, in a chat with Dr. Sánchez Sáez about these results and what they mean for our understanding of galaxies and their black holes. (Recorded 1 August 2024.) Press release: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2409/