At the heart of the Milky Way, just 27,000 light-years from Earth, there is a supermassive black hole with a mass of more than 4 million suns. Nearly all galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, and many of them are much more massive.

An unexpected monster black hole was found hiding inside one of the Milky Way's tiniest neighbors, rewriting what scientists thought they knew about how small galaxies hold themselves together.

Most of these astrophysical monsters are stars with various behavioral issues, such as explosive supernovae or ridiculously powerful (and tempestuous) magnetars. In a recent The Universe column, I wrote about particularly nasty cosmic nightmares called active galaxies.

Black holes are considered cosmic gluttons, from which not even light can escape. That is also why the images of black holes at the center of the galaxy M87 and our Milky Way, published a few years ago by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration,

The Milky Way galaxy, home to our solar system, is no stranger to the vast cosmic forces that shape the universe. Yet, an exciting discovery has unveiled an even more dramatic future: the Milky Way is headed toward a collision with a supermassive black hole.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center runs down the best-known Black Holes in the Milky Way galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

A near-infrared view of the stars near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: ESO / S. Gillessen et al. Astronomers suspect the giant black hole at the heart of the Milky Way may have collided with another black hole in just the past 10 million years.