Sagittarius A* – Astronomy Now

Black hole contains nearly all the mass at the heart of the Milky Way

17 January 2022 Astronomy Now

New observations indicate the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way contains almost all the mass at the very center of the galaxy.

Star’s orbit around black hole more proof Einstein was right

16 April 2020 Astronomy Now

After decades of observation, researchers confirm the orbit of a star in close orbit around the Milky Way’s central black hole obeys Einstein’s predictions.

Cosmic filament probes our galaxy’s giant black hole

21 December 2017 Astronomy Now

The centre of our galaxy has been intensely studied for many years, but it still harbors surprises for scientists. A snake-like structure lurking near our galaxy’s supermassive black hole is the latest discovery to tantalise astronomers.

Infant stars discovered surprisingly near galaxy’s supermassive black hole

28 November 2017 Astronomy Now

At the centre of our galaxy, in the immediate vicinity of its supermassive black hole, is a region wracked by powerful tidal forces and bathed in intense ultraviolet light and X-ray radiation. These harsh conditions, astronomers surmise, do not favour star formation, especially low-mass stars like our Sun. Surprisingly, new observations suggest otherwise.

Hubble peers into the heart of the Milky Way

1 April 2016 Astronomy Now

Peering deep into the heart of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a rich tapestry of more than half a million stars. Most of the stars pictured in the image are members of the Milky Way nuclear star cluster, the densest and most massive star cluster in the galaxy. Hidden in the centre is the Milky Way’s resident supermassive black hole.

A supermassive and super-hungry galaxy

4 January 2016 Astronomy Now

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4845, located over 65 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. In 2013 researchers noticed a violent flare from the black hole at the centre of NGC 4845 as it tore up and fed off an object many times more massive than Jupiter that strayed too close and was devoured.

The Milky Way’s tumultuous heart revealed in X-rays

21 August 2015 Astronomy Now

A newly released image from the ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray satellite observatory gives us a unprecedented look at the intense processes taking place at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. The new study, which spans a thousand light-years, is a compilation of one and a half months of monitoring, revealing the powerful remnants of dead stars and their mighty action on the surrounding gas.

Planet-sized telescope gives a sharp view into black holes

21 April 2015 Astronomy Now

Astronomers building an Earth-sized virtual telescope capable of photographing the event horizon of the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way have extended their instrument to the South Pole.

Chandra X-ray Observatory image of Sagittarius A*

Milky Way’s supermassive black hole a neutrino factory?

14 November 2014 Astronomy Now

A research team from the University of Wisconsin has correlated data from three NASA satellites and a ground-based neutrino detector to show that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, is most likely a powerful neutrino generator.