Astronomers at the National Science Foundation have revealed the first detailed image of Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope. — MSNBC
The thing is packed with the heft of four million suns. It is in the heart of our galaxy, cloaked behind gas, dust, and stars. It has never been seen before. That is, until today. – National Geographic
About 27,000 light-years away sits a massive astrophysical object, some four million times the mass of our sun, surrounded by swirling super-hot gasses…
The image gives greater insight into the mysteries of black holes and further confirms Einstein’s long-standing theory of relativity. Despite its name, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is quite small in the night sky. From Earth, “it’s like looking for a tennis ball on the moon,” says University of Central Florida cosmologist James Cooney, who is not affiliated with the recent announcement. – Smithsonian