Posted in: 12/05/2022 – 16:30
For the first time ever, scientists have captured an image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
This image is direct evidence of the existence of this huge hole indeed, known as “Sagittarius A*”.
Scientists have long suspected that our galaxy contains such a massive object: the stars were observed orbiting something compact and massive in the center of the Milky Way, but it was invisible and impossible to confirm.
It is reported that in the new image, the black hole itself remains invisible, because it is completely dark. But the image shows the bright glowing ring swirling around it, as well as the way light is bent towards it.
The researchers describe the black hole as “the glue that keeps our galaxy together”, and it is “the key to knowing how the Milky Way formed and how it will evolve in the future.”
It took five years of work to create this image by more than 300 researchers from all over the world. Although Sagittarius A* is only 27,000 light-years away, taking a picture of it was pretty hard work.
It is reported that the first ever image of a black hole was in 2019 showed the “M87” hole much larger than the hole of our galaxy, which is about 55 million light-years away.