Astronomers, supported by EU research grants, yesterday unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way. This image provides valuable clues to the workings of these giants, which are thought to reside at the center of most galaxies. It also confirms again Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The image, in unprecedented resolution, was produced by Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global scientific collaboration in which scientists funded by the European Research Council (ERC) have played a key role. Previously, researchers had seen stars orbiting something invisible, compact and very massive in the center of the Milky Way, and they suspected the existence of a black hole.
This new image is the first direct visual evidence that this object, known as Sagittarius A*, is actually a black hole. This sensational discovery follows the publication in 2019 of the very first image of a black hole in the more distant galaxy called Messier 87. The scientific effort was made possible by the ingenuity of more than 300 researchers from 80 institutes around the world who together form this EHT network. Together with the US National Science Foundation, ERC provided crucial support through the project BlackHoleCam, for an amount of 14 million euros. Over the past two decades, the EU has also supported the development and modernization of major telescope infrastructure critical to the success of the EHT project, investing over €30 million in RadioNet. In addition to the ERC, the EU funds space research through the Horizon Europe programme, focusing, among other things, on strengthening the competitiveness of the EU space sector and providing access for actors from the to space.
To know more
More information is available in this ERC press release.