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Stars are seen in close orbit around supermassive black hole at center of Milky Way
In this illustration, stars are seen to be in close orbit around the supermassive black hole that lurks at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
Using Gemini North of the international Gemini Observatory, astronomers measured more precisely than ever before the position and velocity of four of these stars -- called S2, S29, S38 and S55 -- and found them to be moving in a way that shows that the mass in the center of the Milky Way is almost entirely due to the Sgr A* black hole, leaving very little room for anything else.
[NOIRLab is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.]
Learn more in the NOIRLab news story Precise insights into the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way’s heart. (Date image taken: 2021; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Jan. 26, 2022)
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine; acknowledgement: M. Zamani (NSF's NOIRLab) (Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International)
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