The Galactic Center Isn't Spitting Out Stars. What Does This Mean?
Sometimes a non-detection can tell you a lot. For example, astronomers recently searched through data containing around 5 million stars captured by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. They were looking for stars that had been ejected from the center of the Milky Way galaxy, through the gravitational interaction of the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. They failed to find any obvious candidates, which suggests that Sgr A* hasn't merged with another black hole recently.
Sometimes a non-detection can tell you a lot. For example, astronomers recently searched through data containing around 5 million stars captured by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. They were looking for stars that had been ejected from the center of the Milky Way galaxy, through the gravitational interaction of the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. They failed to find any obvious candidates, which suggests that Sgr A* hasn't merged with another black hole recently.
