New Supermassive Black Hole Image Explained! A Stunning First Look at Sagittarius A (4K)

Since 2019, when the first ever image of a supermassive black hole at the centre of the distant galaxy M87 was released, many have been waiting to see if a similar image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy could be captured. Well that time has come because astronomers have finally pierced through the veil of darkness and dust that shrouds the core of the Milky Way and captured the so-called gentle giant that dwells within it. Located about 26,000 light years away, this is Sagittarius A star, the supermassive black hole at the very heart of the Milky Way galaxy. It is the first ever direct visual evidence of the elusive object, as before now scientists had only ever seen stars orbiting around something invisible as this time-lapse shows. Because the black hole is so far away from Earth, it appears to us to be about the same size in the sky as a doughnut on the Moon, but in reality it is roughly the size of Mercury's orbit around our star. That's about 60 million kilometres, or about 40 million miles across. To image it, the team created the powerful Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT, which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single Earth-sized virtual telescope. The EHT observed Sagittarius A star on multiple nights, collecting data for many hours in a row, similar to using a long exposure time on a camera. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that Earth is situated towards the edge of the Milky Way, so the researchers had to deal with the light from all the stars, dust and gas between Earth and Sagittarius A star. Although we cannot see the black hole itself, glowing gas around it reveals a dark central region called a shadow, which is surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view also captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is 4 million times more massive than our Sun. The superheated, excited gas in the ring is travelling around the black hole at extreme speeds, 300,000 kilometres per second, which is about 190,000 miles per second. The brighter regions are likely places where material is moving towards us and where its light emission is being energised as a consequence. At the very centre of the ring, within the dark shadow, is where the black hole resides. However, because of the ultra-dense nature of black holes, nothing can escape their enormous gravity, not even light, making them invisible. The region where light disappears from view, the inside edge of the ring, is Sagittarius A star's event horizon, the point of no return, the threshold around the black hole where the escape velocity surpasses the speed of light. Soon, the new James Webb Space Telescope will also turn its eye on Sagittarius A star. The 10 billion dollar observatory won't have the resolution to directly image the black hole, however, but it will bring new capabilities to the study of the environment around it, with its incredibly sensitive infrared instruments. Even more exciting is the news that three more telescopes have been added to the event horizon network, which means future images of these colossal cosmic monsters should be sharper and illuminate subtle details in the areas around the black holes, and soon we may even be able to see a video of how Sagittarius A star changes over time. This extraordinary image is the first ever look at the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, an object that has fascinated astronomers for so long can now be seen in all its colossal glory. What did you think of this stunning image? Let me know in the comments section below. If you'd like to find out more about these bizarre objects, then why not check out this video, where you can listen to the sound of a supermassive black hole millions of light years away. Thank you all so much for watching, remember to tap the like button and subscribe, and I'll see you all next time.