Sciences: the center of the galaxy photographed for the first time

Published

FRANCE 3

Article written by

A historic photo about the origin of the universe was unveiled on Thursday, May 12. We see a slightly blurred orange disc surrounding a black shadow. This black hole supermassive who throne at the center of our galaxy, located 27,000 light years away, had never been observed until now.

A historic photograph was unveiled Thursday, May 12. It proves that Sagittarius HAS*the black hole located 27,000 light-years from Earth, is the center of the galaxy. This photograph upsets the scientific community. It’s incredible. For decades we doubted the existence of black holes even though they were predicted by mathematical calculations.says Michael Johnson, an astrophysicist at Harvard University (United States).

To arrive at this extraordinary image, more than a dozen radio telescopes pointed at the same place: the constellation Sagittarius, at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Five years and very powerful computers were needed to synthesize thousands of images and obtain this result. “We really see this as both a performance and also as the beginning of black holes going from science fiction to an object whose physics we will be able to study,” asserts Vincent Pietuastrophysicist at IRAM (Institute millimeter radio astronomy).


source site-15