Observations of the gas cloud G2 in the Galactic Center
  In 2011, we discovered a compact gas cloud ("G2") with roughly three Earth
masses that is falling on a near-radial orbit toward the massive black hole in
the Galactic Center. The orbit is well constrained and pericenter passage is
predicted for early 2014. Our data beautifully show that G2 gets tidally
sheared apart due to the massive black hole's force. During the next months, we
expect that in addition to the tidal effects, hydrodynamics get important, when
G2 collides with the hot ambient gas around Sgr A*. Simulations show that
ultimately, the cloud's material might fall into the massive black hole.
Predictions for the accretion rate and luminosity evolution, however, are very
difficult due to the many unknowns. Nevertheless, this might be a unique
opportunity in the next years to observe how gas feeds a massive black hole in
a galactic nucleus.
