Monitoring a close encounter between a small cloud and a supermassive BH

A gas cloud, dubbed G2, was recently discovered to be falling towards Sgr A*.This allows us to witness the unique occurrence of a cloud interacting with theBH.s close environment and likely partially accreting. We propose 4*50 ks XMMobservations to: i) monitor the long term variations of the Xray flux producedby Sgr A* as it interacts with the cloud; ii) monitor any variation, induced bythe cloud flyby, to the frequency and intensity of Sgr A*.s flaring activity;iii) use the magnetar.s light echo and its variations to scan the Galacticcentre matter distribution around Sgr A*; iv) monitor the evolution of thesuperluminal echo reflected from the Bridge. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]