. . . AKA Sgr A*, aka Milky Way's central black hole (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*). The video below gives a decent (if slightly technical) description of the new image of the heart of our galaxy.
(https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/styles/full_width/s3/2022-05/sag-event-image-sm.jpg)
Image credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration"Astronomers Reveal First Image of the Black Hole at the Heart of Our Galaxy" |
Center for Astrophysics (https://pweb.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy)
QuoteAstronomers unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy in simultaneous press conferences around the world today.
The result provides overwhelming evidence that the object at the heart of our galaxy is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants, which are thought to reside at the center of most galaxies. The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — which includes scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) — using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.
[Continues . . . (https://pweb.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy)]
Very cool.
Very cool indeed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/science/black-hole-photo.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/science/black-hole-photo.html)
First paragraph:
"Astronomers announced on Thursday that they had pierced the veil of darkness and dust at the center of our Milky Way galaxy to capture the first picture of "the gentle giant" dwelling there: a supermassive black hole, a trapdoor in space-time through which the equivalent of four million suns have been dispatched to eternity, leaving behind only their gravity and violently bent space-time.
. . ."
I have a hard time wrapping my head around this.