Scientists created a vast library of computer simulations of Sagittarius A* (one shown). The black hole’s shadow against this glowing disk is what we see in EHT images of black holes. That forms a disk of glowing material, called an accretion disk. It swirls around Sgr A* like a cosmic drainpipe. But it doesn’t just tumble straight through into the black hole. The gas is drawn in by Sgr A*’s super strong gravity. Sgr A* feeds on hot material shed by massive stars at the center of the galaxy. That light is given off by material swirling into the black hole. EHT’s images of Sgr A* and the M87 black hole peer at light coming from just outside that inescapable edge. She is not part of the EHT team.Ī black hole’s gravity traps light that falls within a border called the event horizon. This physicist works at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Black holes are “natural keepers of their own secrets,” says Lena Murchikova. That’s because, like all black holes, Sgr A* is an object so dense that its gravity won’t let light escape. Yet Sgr A* and others like it remain some of the most mysterious objects ever found. It’s the most-studied supermassive black hole in the universe. Your friendly neighborhood supermassive black holeĪt 27,000 light-years away, Sgr A* is the closest giant black hole to Earth. That gives it a special place in astronomers’ hearts - and makes it a unique place to explore the physics of our universe. She is also a member of the EHT team.Īlmost every large galaxy is thought to have a supermassive black hole at its center. This astrophysicist works at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. But Sgr A* is “humanity’s black hole,” says Sera Markoff. That snapshot of M87’s black hole was of course historic. It’s about 55 million light-years from Earth. That object sits at the center of the galaxy M87. It also produced the first image of a black hole, released in 2019. That telescope network is called the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT. It required a planet-spanning network of radio dishes. No single observatory could get such a good look at Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* for short. She is also part of the team that captured the new black-hole portrait. She’s an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “This image shows a bright ring surrounding the darkness, the telltale sign of the shadow of the black hole,” said Feryal Özel at a news conference in Washington, D.C. They also reported it in six papers in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
#First picture of black hole series#
Researchers announced it in a series of news conferences around the world. This vista could help scientists better understand the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole and others like it. The image reveals the turbulent, twisting region right around the black hole in new detail. There is a new addition to astronomers’ portrait gallery of black holes. And it’s a beauty.Īstronomers have finally assembled an image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Known as Sagittarius A*, this black hole appears as a dark silhouette against the glowing material that surrounds it.
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