Astronomers reveal the first ever image of the black hole at the core of our galaxy.
The gravitational pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escapeBut some are truly huge and are billions of times the mass of our SunBut it's clear they energise the galaxy and will influence its evolutionAt a distance of 26,000 light-years from Earth, Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* for short, is a tiny pinprick on the sky. To discern such a target requires incredible resolution.
The way a black hole bends, or lenses, light means there is nothing to see but a "shadow", but the brilliance of the matter screaming around this darkness and spreading out into a circle known as an accretion disc, betrays where the object is.The mass of a black hole determines the size of its accretion disc, orevent horizon
The super-heated, excited gas - or plasma - in the ring is travelling around the black hole at a significant fraction of light-speed . The brighter regions are likely places where material is moving towards us and where its light emission is being energised, or "doppler boosted", as a consequence.
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