International astronomers reveal the first image of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way

An international team of astronomers confirmed, on Thursday, the presence of a supermassive black hole in the heart of our galaxy called “Sagittarius A*”, 3 years after publishing the first image of a black hole located in a distant galaxy.

Sharjah 24 – AFP:

An international team of astronomers confirmed, on Thursday, the presence of a supermassive black hole in the heart of our galaxy called “Sagittarius A*”, three years after publishing the first image of a black hole located in a distant galaxy.

The black hole’s “shadow” on a luminous disk of matter is reminiscent of the black hole in the distant galaxy M87, which is much larger than our own Milky Way.

Scientists see this as evidence that the same mechanisms of physics operate at the core of two systems of very different sizes.

“I can show you an image of the Sagittarius A* black hole in the middle of the galaxy,” said IHT project director Hoip Jan van Langevelde during a press conference in Garching, Germany, to applause.

Technically, a black hole cannot be seen, because this object is so dense and its gravitational force is so strong that not even light can escape from it. But the material swirling around it can be observed before it is swallowed.