Image Proves Our Galaxy Has A Supermassive Black Hole

Scientists have taken the first image of the black hole at the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

- Andrew Griffin

The picture is not only our first glimpse at the supermassive black hole - known as Sagittarius A* - but also the first direct evidence it actually exists.

Scientists have long suspected that our galaxy is the home to such a huge, violent object: stars have been observed to be orbiting around something compact and massive at the centre of the Milky Way. While it appeared to be behaving like a black hole, it was invisible and impossible to confirm.

In the new image, the black hole itself stays invisible, because it is completely dark. But the picture shows the bright glowing ring that runs around it, and shows the way that light bends around the region.

Researchers describe the black hole as being “the glue that holds the galaxy together”.

“It is key to our understanding of how the Milky Way formed and will evolve in the future,” said Ziri Younsi from University College London, a researcher at Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) which captured the image.

It comes after the first image of any black hole, which was released in 2019 and depicted M87*, a much bigger example some 55 million light years away and was also captured by the EHT.