First radio image of event horizon of Milky Way’s central black hole
Click for full image.
Using an array of eight radio telescopes worldwide, dubbed the Event Horizon Telescope because its purpose is to study black holes, scientists have obtained the first radio image of the event horizon of Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
The image to the right, reduced to post here, is that photo.
The image is a long-anticipated look at the massive object that sits at the very centre of our galaxy. Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way. This strongly suggested that this object — known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*, pronounced “sadge-ay-star”) — is a black hole, and today’s image provides the first direct visual evidence of it.
Although we cannot see the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a “shadow”) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun.
This is the second supermassive black hole that the Event Horizon array has imaged. In 2019 it captured the central black hole of the galaxy M87, 55 million light years away. Like that first image, much of what we see here is created by computer, since the data from the eight radio telescopes needs to be massaged to create something as smooth and as complete as this.
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Click for full image.
Using an array of eight radio telescopes worldwide, dubbed the Event Horizon Telescope because its purpose is to study black holes, scientists have obtained the first radio image of the event horizon of Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
The image to the right, reduced to post here, is that photo.
The image is a long-anticipated look at the massive object that sits at the very centre of our galaxy. Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way. This strongly suggested that this object — known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*, pronounced “sadge-ay-star”) — is a black hole, and today’s image provides the first direct visual evidence of it.
Although we cannot see the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a “shadow”) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun.
This is the second supermassive black hole that the Event Horizon array has imaged. In 2019 it captured the central black hole of the galaxy M87, 55 million light years away. Like that first image, much of what we see here is created by computer, since the data from the eight radio telescopes needs to be massaged to create something as smooth and as complete as this.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Not to mention, the human eye does not see radiowaves.
Great image!
Not to mention, the human eye does not see radiowaves.
Except for those of us who have evolved further than the masses
To clarify for those who think the dark center of the image is the black hole itself, the dark center is the shadow of the black hole acting like the occulting disk in a solar telescope.
The Black Hole Image (M87) Explained
Veritasium –>from 2019
https://youtu.be/zUyH3XhpLTo
9:18
explains the geometry very well
Thank you.
I learned more stuff.
Like, no matter how much you know, it ain’t enough.
GaryMike-
-check out Scott Manley as well for nicely done black-hole info.
“Mass of Sagittarius A* calculated from SO-2 (S2) Star’s Orbital Parameters”
Dr. Andrew R. Ochadlick Jr (2016)
https://youtu.be/mT1_vol_F_0
7:08
When will they find a Worm Hole to the further away and the Galactic Barrier?
They’ve covered this in episodes of “How the Universe Works” on Discovery Channel.
They featured an MIT prof (Seth something) who they seemed to present as the brain behind it all.
The global radio telescopes gather so much data that they have to ship the hard-drives to MIT, since the public internet would take too long to transfer terabytes of data every hour.
https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/andrea-ghez-wins-2020-nobel-prize-in-physics
Well deserved! She and her team spent countless nights, year after year, recording how Sag-A at our galactic core flung stars around at incredible velocities. They had to look deep into the core of the Milky Way from the Keck telescope, looking for minute data blips on computer screens. Monica also could back up her observations with theories to describe the data. Say, how does one get some time on Keck?