Scientists reveal first image of the black hole in the center of our galaxy

Scientists have imaged a black hole before, but now they've captured a picture of the most important example — the one at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. Researchers using the Event Horizon Telescope have revealed the first image of Sagittarius A* (aka Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of our home galaxy. The snapshot confirms both the presence of the black hole and provides more details of how these extreme space objects work.

Like the black hole spotted inside M87, Sgr A* is bending all the light around it — hence why it looks so similar. They're far from identical beyond this, however. The Milky Way's hole is over 1,000 times smaller and less massive. That made it a challenge to accurately visualize the gas whipping around the hole, as it orbits in minutes where M87's gas takes days or even weeks.

The team needed the Event Horizon Telescope's network of radio observatories to produce the imagery over the course of multiple nights. They developed new imaging tools, and used a mix of supercomputing power (to analyze and combine data) and black hole simulations to help compare their findings. The project took five years to complete, including 100 million hours of supercomputer time at the US' National Science Foundation.

Developing…