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Space
Space
Science
Sharmila Kuthunur

1st image of our Milky Way's black hole may be inaccurate, scientists say

An image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, a behemoth dubbed Sagittarius A*, revealed by the Event Horizon Telescope on May 12, 2022.

What does the supermassive black hole lurking at the center of our galaxy look like?It's a deceptively simple question. 

Although our local cosmic abyss, named Sgr A* (short for Sagittarius A*), resides just 26,000 light-years from Earth, it has proven to be a very difficult object to image. This is thanks in part to material whipping around it at near light-speeds. However, after years of trying, scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project succeeded in 2022.The black hole's silhouette emerged from the shadows, appearing like a fuzzy orange doughnut.

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