The Milky Way’s black hole has a mass that is 4 million times the suns, and was at one time estimated at 14 million miles across. It is about 26,000 light-years away, and around 15 billion years old. The black hole cannot be seen though, because everything that approaches it will be swallowed. This includes light.
Astronomers have for over 30 years have been trying to learn what causes the radio emissions and how near the black hole they derive from. Geoffrey Bower of the University of California-Berkely said that the radio emissions may originate from material that falls into the black hole.
The region called Sagittarius A* is radio-emitting and was discovered 1974. It was later determined to be linked with a central, huge black hole. The area is hidden in dust, so light telescopes can’t see or study Sagittarius A*. It is estimated that 350 million years ago the Black Hole was swallowing 10,000 billion tonnes of gas and dust every second. No one knows why the supply was cut off, but it is believed that it will start again sometime in the future.
Image from -
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/30/1067233284073.html?from=storyrhs
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