From a universal perspective, the Milky Way is pretty small, but from where we sit on the outskirts of the galaxy, it is absolutely massive. When astronomers look into the center of the galaxy, they see Sagittarius A, which is a supermassive black hole around which all the stars in the Milky Way orbit.

Scientists have long known that it is not a good idea to get anywhere near a black hole of any type, and especially not one as large as Sagittarius A. According to a new paper that is set to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, however, that black hole is not the only thing to be afraid of at our galaxy’s center.

The paper was written by Chzech and German astronomers, who found that there is a massive “star grinder” that is sucking in and destroying stars that get too close. Oddly, however, it doesn’t destroy all the stars that cross its path; instead, it only seems to get young B-type stars (which are a few times more massive than our sun) and the

Older B-type stars or those that are smaller are able to survive getting close to this area without being sucked in and turned into small black holes. This does explain why astronomers do not see the massive O-type stars at the center of the galaxy like they would expect. While they should be plentiful in the area near Sagittarius A, there are none within a tenth of a light-year. This has puzzled astronomers for some time, but if this paper proves to be correct, they may finally have their answer.

The small and old B-type stars are found in this area because they do not get destroyed by the ‘grinder’ in the area. In a statement, the lead author Jaroslav Haas, who is an astronomy PhD at Charles University, Czechia, said:

“The smaller B-stars can survive much longer, in fact for some 50 million years. This explains why the heavy O-type stars are missing at distances smaller than about one-tenth of a light year from SgrA*, with only B-stars surviving there.”

Co-author Pavel Kroupa is a Charles University astrophysicist, who added:

“These results give us an entirely new understanding of the immediate surroundings of the central super-massive black hole.”

This paper will provide significant steps forward in the understanding of what existence is like near the center of the galaxy. While it was once just the supermassive black hole that was thought to be destroying anything that was unlucky enough to enter the region, it is now known that there are actually thousands of black holes in the area, each with its own destructive power.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.