The First Image of Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole Revealed

Astronomers have been wondering for decades what lies at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. Today, scientists released the first image of the supermassive black hole that lurks there, providing a completely new perspective on our home galaxy.

The historic image of Sagittarius A*, captured by a global telescope array called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and released Thursday (May 12), confirms the existence of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, feeding on hydrogen gas. EHT is best known for capturing the first-ever black hole image of M87’s supermassive black hole in 2019, but today’s image is even more significant for scientists working on the project.