New research suggests the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way is actually a tremendously massive yet compact clump of dark matter.
Scientists say this clump would exert the same gravitational effects currently attributed to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). That includes the violent and rapid dance of stars taking place at the Galactic Center, in which so-called "S-stars" race around the compact heart of our galaxy at speeds as great as 67 million miles per hour (30,000 kilometers per second). For context, that's around 10% of the speed of light. This dark matter clump, the team says, would also account for the orbits of the dust-shrouded bodies, or "G-sources" located in the Galactic Center.
