New Discoveries at the Milky Way's Core: New Discoveries on Sagittarius A*

Recent explorations of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, have yielded remarkable new findings.

Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, where a supermassive black hole named Sagittarius A lurks, approximately 27,000 light years away from Earth. This black hole spans an astonishing 23.5 million kilometers in diameter.

Now, a team of astronomers, led by Florian Peißker from the University of Cologne, Germany, have identified a binary star system orbiting this colossal black hole. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Binary star systems consist of two stars that orbit around a common center. This arrangement is not typical for our Sun, which exists alone, avoiding the chaotic gravitational forces that could arise from additional stars nearby.

Despite previous predictions, no binary star systems had been detected near supermassive black holes until now. The research team utilized the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope to capture the peculiar movement of starlight, allowing them to identify the binary stars through a method known as the Doppler effect.

The revelation that these stars are approximately 2.7 million years old provides critical information about the black hole's gravitational influence and its capacity to disrupt nearby celestial bodies. As we delve deeper into the mysteries of black holes, each discovery brings forth a greater understanding of our universe.