The black hole itself cannot be directly seen or observed due to its immensely powerful gravitational pull, which prevents any light or matter from escaping. What the EHT captured is the silhouette of Sagittarius A*, appearing as a swirling ring of light and matter, spinning at nearly the speed of light.
The EHT is a network of 8 radio telescopes spanning from the South Pole to Spain and Chile. It is the same instrument that previously produced the first image of the M87* black hole in the Messier 87 galaxy in 2019.
The first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
( EHT COLLABORATION/REUTERS.)
Professor Sera Markoff, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and co-chair of the EHT Science Council, stated, “The black hole at the center of our Milky Way has been our primary target. It is the closest supermassive black hole to us and the reason we initiated this endeavor. It is a significant scientific achievement after a century of searching for black holes.”
The captured image serves as compelling evidence, demonstrating the presence of a black hole at the core of our Milky Way.
At first glance, Sagittarius A* may appear similar to M87*, but the EHT team asserts that they are entirely distinct entities.
According to experts, Sagittarius A* only accretes a small amount of matter, contrary to the common description of black holes as violent and voracious cosmic “monsters.” “If Sagittarius A* were a person, it would be comparable to consuming a grain of rice every million years,” according to Michael Johnson, an expert at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, as cited by The Guardian.
In contrast, M87* is one of the largest black holes in the universe, continuously emitting streams of light and matter at a furious and wide-ranging pace.
“Sagittarius A* provides us with an image of a more typical state of black holes: serene and passive,” says Johnson.
Despite being approximately 26,000 light-years away, relatively close in astronomical terms, Sagittarius A* is not as easy to observe as previously thought. The EHT team spent five years analyzing the data collected during observations of nighttime skies across various continents.
The research results were published in a special edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters on May 12th.