Scientists were able to capture a groundbreaking photo of the massive black hole that binds the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration revealed the first direct visual evidence of Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. The team has been attempting to image Sgr A* since 2009.
The image is a swirling orange around a shadowy circle, and it traveled 26,000 years to reach us. "I wish I could tell you that the second time is as good as the first, when imaging black holes. But that wouldn't be true. It is actually better," said Feryal Özel, an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona and part of the EHT Collaboration.
The breathtaking image is proof of a black hole that was not visible to us until now. In 1974, astronomers first discovered activity coming from Sgr A*when they heard a radio signal coming from the heart of the Milky Way. It was suspected that this sound came from a black hole, but it was not confirmed yet.
Researchers noticed stars circling the radio signals, traveling at extreme speeds. These two things were suspected to occur around black holes. By 2018, more evidence showed that Sgr A* was a supermassive black hole with a mass of 4 million suns. Two of the scientists working on this venture were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
The finding is the fist time we are able to actually see the black hole. Further research could show more.