Astronomers captured the first image of the mega black hole

In a rare moment of history, researchers have captured an image of a black hole in the middle of our galaxy.

It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), with an international team working with eight synchronised radio telescopes from around the world to capture the picture.

The image captured shows a glowing circle of orange and yellow light wrapping a dark middle, delivering the first-ever visual proof of a black hole sitting at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

It is named as Sagittarius A* is located approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth and is around 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun.

The belief is that this finding will hold invaluable clues about the mysteries of the universe, with black holes thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies.

Co-Chair of the EHT Science Council Sera Markoff said the discovery of the two black holes will give astrophysicists the chance to form a greater understanding of how our universe works.

“We have two completely different types of galaxies and two very different black hole masses, but close to the edge of these black holes they look amazingly similar,” Professor Markoff said.

But there was a significant difference in capturing the images of the two black holes said EHT scientist Chi-kwan Chan.

The scientist from Steward Observatory and the Department of Astronomy and the Data Science Institute of the University of Arizona said, “The gas in the vicinity of the black holes moves at the same speed — nearly as fast as light — around both Sgr A* and M87*.

Source: Agencies