The Milky Way's Black Hole
Image Credit:
X-ray - NASA/CXC/SAO,
IR - NASA/HST/STScI;
Inset:
Radio - Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
There's a black hole
at the center of the Milky Way.
Stars are observed to orbit
a very massive and
compact object
there known as Sgr A* (say "sadge-ay-star").
But this just released radio image (inset) from planet Earth's
Event Horizon Telescope is the
first direct evidence of the Milky Way's central black hole.
As predicted by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity,
the four million solar mass black hole's strong gravity
is bending light and creating a shadow-like dark central region
surrounded by a bright ring-like structure.
Supporting observations made by
space-based telescopes and ground-based observatories
provide a wider view of the galactic center's dynamic environment
and an important
context for the Event Horizon Telescope's black hole image.
The main panel image
shows the X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Hubble.
While the main panel is about 7-light years across,
the Event Horizon Telescope inset image itself spans a mere 10
light-minutes
at the center of our galaxy,
some 27,000 light-years away.