On May 12, 2022, astronomers unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This is the first image of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of Earth\u2019s galaxy. It is the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array that linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single \u201cEarth-sized\u201d virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the \u201cevent horizon,\u201d the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The image was produced by EHT team, which includes scientists from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes. It provides overwhelming evidence that the object at the heart of the galaxy is indeed a black hole, and it yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants, which are thought to reside at the center of most galaxies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the event horizon itself is not visible, because it cannot emit light, glowing gas orbiting around the black hole reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a \u201cshadow\u201d) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is 4 million times more massive than the sun. The image of the Sgr A* black hole is an average of the different images the EHT Collaboration has extracted from its 2017 observations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smithsonian Snapshot
Confirmation at Last of a Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way
Eight radio observatories across the planet formed a single \u201cEarth-sized\u201d virtual telescope to capture the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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