The wait is over!! The Event Horizon Telescope(EHT) makes history again by releasing the first-ever image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* which is located at the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy.
The astronomers have suspected for a long time that in the constellation Sagittarius, hiding behind the clouds of dust and gas that cover the center of the Milky Way, there is a massive black hole. The U.S National Science Foundation with the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration held the much awaited press conference this evening to give out the direct evidence, that is the first-ever image of the supermassive black hole at the galactic centre of our galaxy. No wonder why the team behind this hinted at this by saying “groundbreaking”. This exciting achievement is a product of the hard work of an international team of more than 300 astronomers from around 8 different observatories.
We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very center of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings,” says Geoffrey Bower, the EHT Project Scientist from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei.
The Event Horizon Telescope is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of synchronized radio telescopes. Thus, EHT is basically a virtual earth-sized telescope which has enough power to see the ‘unseeable’ , the event horizon of a supermassive black hole. They have done it in 2019 by capturing the event horizon of a giant black hole located at the center of the supergiant Messier 87 Galaxy. Now they have done it again by releasing the first glimpse of the heart of our own galaxy. As a cherry on top, both these images look similar.
For decades, we have known about a compact object at the heart of our galaxy that is 4 million times more massive than our sun. Today, right at this moment, we have a direct evidence that this object is a blackhole.
Said by Sara (Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Radbound University) while explaining what this discovery means at the press conference.
EHT has taken us all to the peak of curiosity by releasing the 1st image of our supermassive Black hole ‘Sagittarius A*’ at the center of Milky Way. But, How did they capture the tremendous beauty of this terrific giant at center of our Galaxy?! What’s the entire story behind achieving this milestone? Curious? Head to our video below and dive into the depths of the matter.
Do you want to feel the beauty of this giant at the center of our galaxy in a new way?! Here comes the Data Sonification of Sagittarius A*. By Chandra X-ray Observatory. Few more are there, watch and listen to them via Chandra X-ray Observatory YouTube Channel.
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