It has been long theorized about, but not seen. Now, we have an image of a supermassive black hole.
The black hole is often referred to as Sgr A*, pronounced. Its mass is about 4 million times that of the sun, and it's about 27,000 light years from Earth,Black holes have long been a source of public fascination, but they also pose notorious challenges to researchers, mainly because their gravitational fields are so strong that they either bend light or prevent it from escaping entirely.
"What made it extra challenging was the dynamic environment of Sgr A*, a source that burbled then gurgled as we looked at it," Özel said,"and the challenges of looking not only through our own atmosphere, but also through the gas clouds in the disk of our galaxy towards the center. It took several years to refine our image and confirm what we had, but we prevailed."
The researchers announced the news Thursday morning at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., but it was simultaneously released around the world, in a series of news conferences held in Mexico City, Shanghai, Tokyo, and other cities.
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