Deep space
Sagittarius A*
Supermassive black hole
The black hole at the heart of the Milky Way
Tracking stars orbiting an invisible mass at the galactic centre proved a supermassive black hole lives there — work that earned the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Event Horizon Telescope imaged its shadow in 2022.
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~26,700 light-years
Mass
~4.3 million × Sun
Shadow size
~52 microarcseconds
Did you know
- The star S2 orbits it every 16 years.
- Dust blocks it from view in visible light.
- Its image required a planet-sized network of radio telescopes.
