April 26, 2024

Meet Sagittarius A* – Astronomers Reveal First Image of the Black Hole at the Heart of the Milky Way

Its the first direct visual proof of the existence of this black hole. The telescope is called after the occasion horizon, the limit of the black hole beyond which no light can leave. Today, at simultaneous press conferences around the world, consisting of at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) head office in Germany, astronomers have revealed the very first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

This is the very first picture of Sgr A *, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Its the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this great void. It was recorded by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a variety that connected together 8 existing radio observatories across the world to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the occasion horizon, the border of the black hole beyond which no light can escape. Credit: EHT Collaboration.
Today, at synchronised press conferences worldwide, consisting of at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) headquarters in Germany, astronomers have revealed the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. This outcome provides frustrating evidence that the things is undoubtedly a great void and yields valuable clues about the functions of such giants, which are believed to live at the center of many galaxies. The image was produced by a global research group called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, utilizing observations from an around the world network of radio telescopes.

Although we can not see the black hole itself, since it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals an obvious signature: a dark main region (called a shadow) surrounded by an intense ring-like structure. The brand-new view records light bent by the effective gravity of the black hole, which is 4 million times more huge than our Sun.
This research study existed in six documents released today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

By European Southern Observatory (ESO).
May 12, 2022.

The image is a long-anticipated look at the huge object that sits at the very center of our galaxy. Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and extremely huge at the center of the Milky Way. This highly recommended that this things– referred to as Sagittarius A * (Sgr A *, pronounced “sadge-ay-star”)– is a black hole, and todays image offers the first direct visual evidence of it.