An international team of astrophysicists published the first image of a huge black hole (technically it is “supermassive”) that is located in the hub of the Milky Way. The shot adds evidence that the sighted object is -without a doubt- a black hole and provides clues about the operation of these bodies. It was possible to take thanks to a wide collaboration of specialists who joined efforts using project teams Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, and using the integration of observations from a global network of radio telescopes.
According to those responsible for the discovery, the new image shows the real appearance of the hole located in the center of our galaxy. Previously, stars had already been observed orbiting around something large, compact and massive in the heart of the Milky Way and these data allowed us to postulate that this object -baptized as Sagittarius A*– It was a black hole. The image released this week provides the first direct visual evidence.
It is worth clarifying that by definition a black hole it is not visible, since it attracts everything inside, even light. What is seen and photographed is the gas that surrounds it and is shown in a revealing format: a dark central region (called a “shadow”) surrounded by a bright ring-shaped structure. Precisely the published image shows the light bent by the gravitational force of the black hole, whose mass is four million times that of the Sun.
What are black holes? The best explanation was offered in an article published by Ph.D. Gaston Giribet, professor at the University of Buenos Aires. This Conicet researcher wrote: “Black holes are a prediction of the general theory of relativity, formulated by Einstein towards the end of 1915. This theory is, above all, a theory of gravitational interaction”. And he added that “black holes are the most fascinating stars in the universe. Their physics is disconcerting and their existence has something of a paradox: although they are dark, cold and silent astrophysical objects, they end up being paired with the most violent, energetic and luminous parts of the universe. At the same time, black holes defy our intuition to the point of awe; all basic notions of physics, such as space and time, are distorted near them.”
It is worth remembering that this image it is not the first portrait of this type. Already in April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released the first photograph of a black hole. This is M87*, with 6,600,000,000 solar masses, located in the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, 53 million light years away.
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