The first image source of a giant black hole in the heart of our galaxy

The international collaboration of EHT astronomers proved to be in the picture this Thursday Black hole The largest in the center of our galaxy.

Evidence for scientists

The image against the glowing disk of the black hole’s “shadow” object is reminiscent of a distant black hole. Galaxy M87, which is much larger than ours. Scientists see this as evidence that the same mechanisms of physics operate at the heart of two systems at different levels.

“I can show you a picture of the Sgr A * black hole at the center of the galaxy,” EHT project manager Huib Jan Van Langevelde announced at a press conference in Korching, Germany. Germany.

Very dense material

Technically, you can not see a black hole because the material is so dense and its gravitational force is so strong that even light cannot escape from it. But before being swallowed, we can observe the object circling around.

“We have direct evidence that this object is a black hole,” explained Sarah Issaoun of the Harvard Astronomical Center. Black holes can be stars when they have the mass of a few suns, or larger when they have millions or billions of suns.

Sagittarius is named A *

Sagittarius A * (Sgr A *), whose name is based on the direction of Sagittarius, weighs approximately four million Suns And 27,000 light-years from Earth. Its existence has been traced back to 1974, with the discovery of an unusual radio source in the center of the galaxy.

EHT, the International Network of Eight Radio-Astronomical Laboratories, brought in in 2019 the historical image of M87 *, a gigantic black hole with a mass of six billion solar masses in its galaxy Messier 87, located 55 million years ago. With a mass of four million solar masses, Sgr A * is a feather in the mass of the largest black hole.