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During the peak of their accretion phase, supermassive black holes ingalactic cores are known to emit very high levels of ionizing radiation,becoming visible over intergalactic distances as quasars or active galacticnuclei (AGN). Here, we quantify the extent to which the activity of thesupermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A*(Sgr A*), may have affected the habitability of Earth-like planets in ourGalaxy. We focus on the amount of atmospheric loss and on the possiblebiological damage suffered by planets exposed to X-ray and extreme ultraviolet(XUV) radiation produced during the peak of the active phase of Sgr A*. We findthat terrestrial planets could lose a total atmospheric mass comparable to thatof present day Earth even at large distances (~1 kiloparsec) from the galacticcenter. Furthermore, we find that the direct biological damage caused by Sgr A*to surface life on planets not properly screened by an atmosphere was probablysignificant during the AGN phase, possibly hindering the development of complexlife within a few kiloparsecs from the galactic center.

The habitability of the Milky Way during the active phase of its central supermassive black hole