It has taken five years for astronomers to capture and confirm this image and discovery. The results of this groundbreaking discovery were published Thursday in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very (center) of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings.” “We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity,” said EHT project scientist Geoffrey Bower from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, in a statement. At this close range, the black hole accelerates matter to close to the speed of light and bends the paths of photons in the warped (space-time).” “With the (Event Horizon Telescope or EHT) image, we have zoomed in a thousand times closer than these orbits, where the gravity grows a million times stronger. “For decades, astronomers have wondered what lies at the heart of our galaxy, pulling stars into tight orbits through its immense gravity,” Michael Johnson, astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, said in a statement. Astronomers said the black hole is 4 million times more massive than our sun. It’s the first direct observation confirming the presence of the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, as the beating heart of the Milky Way.īlack holes don’t emit light, but the image shows the shadow of the black hole surrounded by a bright ring, which is light bent by the gravity of the black hole. My best guess is that the changing classification of the galaxy and the changing orientation of its black hole are essentially unrelated facts about it.For the first time, astronomers have captured an image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The article suggests that a galactic merger could do it, yet they require hundreds of millions of years (if not billions) to complete. Thirdly, the earlier orientation of the jets are revealed by two lobes of gas that have been detected in the vicinity of this galaxy.Īre we supposed to conclude that the black hole changed its orientation since it was first discovered and classified as an ordinary radio galaxy? That cannot have been more than a few decades ago at most, yet the change in angular momentum needed to reorient a rapidly rotating supermassive black hole through approximately 90 degrees would have to be enormous. original article here Įven after reading the press release you have linked to (thanks for that!) I am a bit confused about what is going on here.Īt least three things are clear to me: firstly, this was once classified as simply a radio galaxy, but now is classified as a blazar (or, more precisely, a radio galaxy with a blazar at its core, where a blazar is a supermassive black hole emitting a jet in our direction.) Secondly, the black hole previously emitted its jets approximately perpendicular to our line-of-sight, but has now rotated so one is pointing at us. More observations are needed to figure out this mystery. Current theories include a galaxy merger, where another large galaxy collided with PBC J2333.9-2343, jostling the orientation of everything within it. What caused this great shift? Astronomers are still working that out. For PBC J2333.9-2343, it appears that there is only one source of activity, and it has changed tack. But in prior examples, there were two sets of lobes, meaning two separate jets turning on and off. It's not totally unprecedented for a galaxy's jets to appear in different places. These dormant lobes are evidence that the jets have, in fact, changed direction.

This blazar's lobes are 'very old,' however, Hernández-García said, adding that 'they are the relics of past activity, whereas the structures located closer to the nucleus represent younger and active jets.' The researchers also observed two lobes - areas where an AGN's jets interact with surrounding gas - where some jets had previously made their mark. Black hole 'spaghettified' a star into a doughnut shape, and astronomers captured the gory encounter What's the biggest black hole in the universe? Black holes may be swallowing invisible matter that slows the movement of stars

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