WASHINGTON (AP) β The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, with astronomers calling it a "gentle giant" on a near-starvation diet.
Astronomers believe nearly all galaxies, including our own, have these giant black holes at their center, where light and matter cannot escape, making it extremely hard to get images of them. Light gets chaotically bent and twisted around by gravity as it gets sucked into the abyss along with superheated gas and dust.
And there are many reasons to get excited about that.
The colorized image unveiled Thursday is from the international consortium behind the Event Horizon Telescope, a collection of eight synchronized radio telescopes around the world. Previous efforts had found the black hole in the center of our galaxy too jumpy to get a good picture.
The University of Arizona's Feryal Ozel called the black hole "the gentle giant in the center of our galaxy" while announcing the breakthrough. Black holes gobble up galactic material but Ozel said this one is "eating very little."
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The Milky Way black hole is called Sagittarius A(asterisk), near the border of Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations. It is 4 million times more massive than our sun.
"What's more cool than seeing the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way," said Caltech astronomer Katherine Bouman at a press conference.
This is not the first black hole image. The same group released the first one in 2019 and it was from a galaxy 53 million light-years away. The Milky Way black hole is much closer, about 27,000 light-years away. A light year is 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers).
The project cost nearly $60 million with $28 million coming from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Space discoveries that will blow your mind
Space discoveries that will blow your mind
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Since NASAβs inception in 1958, astronauts have landed on the moon, parked a robot-controlled rover on Mars, and discovered thousands of exoplanetsβplanets that orbit stars outside of this solar system. Scientists can even explore the 95% of invisible spaceΒ comprised of dark energy, dark matter, and dark radiation.Β
The size of the universe is hard to fathom, and itβs expanding even fasterΒ than scientists originally thought. While humans will never map out the entirety of space, that doesnβt stop them from exploring it.Β
Stacker Β compiled a list of 30 mind-blowing space discoveries after searching news archives and reports from NASA. Click through to see what theyβve uncoveredβfrom a super-Earth and sun twins to the first photograph of a black hole.
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center // Flickr
Super-Earth
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
An expolanet with a mass almost three times that of Earth was discovered in 2017Β by A. SuΓ‘rez MascareΓ±o and her team with the HARPS-N spectrograph on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo off the coast of Spain. This "super-Earth"Β is located 21 light-years away and orbits its M dwarf star in only two weeks. Scientists have their eyes set on these common planet types as a possibility for life.
Tyrogthekreeper // Wikimedia Commons
Ice volcanoes
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
NASA's Dawn mission in 2015Β found a single volcano-esque mountain near the equator of the dwarf planet Ceres. NASA reportedΒ that the mountain, named Ahuna Mons, likely formed as a cryovolcanoΒ that releases frigid, salty water sometimes mixed with mud instead of molten rock,Β like an Earth volcano.
NASA
Potentially habitable planet
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2017, an exoplanet about the size of Earth, Ross 128b, was discoveredΒ by Xavier Bonfils of the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble and the University of Grenoble Alpes in France. This could be the closest planet to our solar system that is potentially habitable.
ESO/M. Kornmesser // Wikimedia Commons
Liquid-filled canyons on Titan
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2013, NASA's Cassini spacecraft found deep canyonsΒ about a half-mile wide on Saturn's moon Titan. These Grand Canyon-like formations are filled with liquid hydrocarbon. This was the first time researchers found evidence of both liquid-filled channels and canyons on Titan.
NASA
Ultramassive black holes
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Black holes are invisible parts of spaceΒ created when a star dies. Their gravitational pull is so strong, they engulf both matter and light. NASAβs Chandra X-ray telescope recently found βultramassiveβ black holes that are 10 times larger than originally thought and are growing faster than the stars in their respective galaxies. The findings came from astrophysicists at the University of Montreal and the Institute of Space Sciences in Spain, who looked at 72 galaxiesΒ that all had supermassive black holes in their centerβwhich most galaxies have.
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NASA
Collision of neutron stars
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Scientists captured two neutron stars crashing into each otherΒ in 2017. When a star runs out of energy, it collapses into itself, resulting in either a neutron starΒ or a black hole.Β The discovery revealed that these high-powered impacts not only produce gravitational wavesΒ that cause a ripple in space-time, but they result in heavy elements such as gold and platinum.
European Space Agency
Tsunamis on Mars
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
NASA-funded research released in 2016 showed that shorelines located below the surface of Mars were created by two mega-tsunami events. The findings support the theory that the red planet once had an oceanΒ underneath its desert surface.
NASA
Alcohol-spewing comet
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2015, a team of scientists led by Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory in France reported that Comet Lovejoy left a trail of ethyl alcohol, the same thing found in booze. The team found evidence of 21 organic molecules, including a type of sugar. Finding organic materials in comets supports the theory that these celestial objects could have contained life-creating elements.
John Vermette // Wikimedia Commons
Planet-building clumps
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2018, planetary scientists reported that they had found evidence for βpebble accretion,β the theory that golf ball-sized clumps of space dust accumulated to create tiny planetsΒ called planetesimalsΒ during the early stages of planetary formation. Results were published from a team of scientists at the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at NASAβs Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASAβs Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
NASA
Cosmic microwave background
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
The Big Bang theory holds the universe rapidly exploded into being 13.8 billion years ago. The cosmic microwave background (CMB),Β which datesΒ back to about 400,000 years after the Big Bang, shows the heat left behind. Although the radiation is too cold for humans to see, it is visible on the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The CMB was found in 1965 by researchers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, but in 2013, scientists used the European Space Agencyβs Planck satelliteΒ to measure radiation to get the best picture possible of the birth of the universe.
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NASA/Goddard/WMAP Science Team // Wikimedia Commons
Possibility of life on Jupiter's moon
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In a study released in 2017, researchers reported evidenceΒ of shifting tectonic plates on Jupiterβs icy moon Europa, which has a balance ofΒ hydrogen and oxygenΒ similar to Earth. These findings support the possibility that Europa could be hospitable to life. The ocean is frozen 10 miles deep, but future missions might try to discoverΒ if the body of water is warm enough beneath the surface to support life.
NASA
Star-sucking black holes
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2015, the Assn-15lh tidal disruption event, captured by the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, emitted light that was 20 times brighter than the entire output of the Milky Way. A team of scientists, led by Giorgos Leloudas from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, published a paperΒ in 2016 explaining the explosion wasnβt a supernova, as originally thought, but a dying star that was pulled in by a supermassive spinning black hole. These findings show that, unlike stationary black holes that can only affect stars within their event horizon, spinning black holes can pull in outside celestial bodies.
NASA
Sun twins
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
A study publishedΒ in 2017 by researchers with the University of California and Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservatoryΒ reported that almost all sun-like stars are created with a counterpart, including the one in this solar system. The sunβs theoretical sibling, known as Nemesis, most likely drifted away millions of years ago.
NASA
Ice deposits on Mars
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2016, an ice layer bigger than New MexicoΒ was discovered on Mars. The layer, which sits somewhere under 3 to 33 feet of soil, is thought to be an accessible spot for future exploration. The researchers who made the discovery were led by Cassie Stuurman of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas.
NASA
Small stars
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
A star only slightly larger than Saturn was identifiedΒ in 2017 by researchers at the University of Cambridge in England. This star, with the catchy nameΒ EBLM J0555-57Ab, is the smallest ever discovered and is colder than many other exoplanets.
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NASA
The synestia theory
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
About 4.5 billion years ago, Earth may have been a "synestia,"Β a short-lived hot mass that can be donut-shaped, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Scientists believeΒ these celestial objects are formed after two planet-sized bodies collide, which may be how the moon was formed.
NASA/GSFC/Reto Stockli, Nazimi El Saleous, and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen // Wikimedia Commons
Water on the moon
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
NASA discovered water on the sunlit surface of the moon, adding intriguing new information to the mystery of the lunar surface. ScientistsΒ found definitive evidence ofΒ ice on the moonβs north and south poles in 2018, but the new findings confirm the presence of water moleculesβthe same H2O we're familiar with on Earth. The discovery was made withΒ NASAβs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified BoeingΒ 747SP jetliner with a powerful telescope that picked up the wavelength of water molecules in the moon's Clavius Crater.Β
Gregory H. Revera // Wikimedia Commons
Supermassive black hole
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2018, researchers at Australian National University released data on a massive, quickly growing black hole. It is thought to be more than 12 billion years old, larger than 20 billion suns, and growing at a rate previously deemed impossible. The discovery could give more insight into the Big Bang.
ESO/M. Kornmesser // Wikimedia Commons
Buckyballs
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
These spherical, hollow carbon molecules are thought to be the basis of the bands of light in the Milky Way. They get their name from 1930s architect Buckminster Fuller. The buckyballs could also be sources of organic molecules that are the key to how life got started, scientists told Space.com .
NASA
Fiery exoplanet
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Kepler 78b, which was discoveredΒ by Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyΒ researchers using the Kepler Telescope in 2013, circles its star once every 8.5 hours. The planet could be covered in molten rock because it is about 40 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun. How the planet was formed so close to its star is a mystery.
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NASA
Cold spot in the universe
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
The Royal Astronomical Society analyzed a cold spot in the universe, which can be seen in the radiation left by the Big Bang. The spot was discovered by NASAβs WMAP satellite in 2004 and confirmed by ESAβs Planck Mission in 2013. The cool area is interesting because it could be evidence of the multiverse, the theory that there is an infinite number of universes on different planes.
NASA Blueshift // Flickr
Iron and titanium outside the solar system
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2018, astronomers discovered iron and titaniumΒ in a planet outside the solar system for the first time. KELT-9b, which was first discovered by a team led by astronomer Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University, is the hottest exoplanet yet to be discovered.
NASA
Halloween meteor
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
On Oct. 31, 2015, a dead comet with an eerie likeness to a skull narrowly passed by EarthΒ at a distance of 300,000 miles. It was observed on radar maps by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. This cosmic body, named 2015 TB145, returned in November 2018, just missing a Halloween appearance.Β
NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR/NRAO/AUI/NSF // Wikimedia Commons
Monster galaxy
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
A team of international scientists mapped outΒ a quickly growing, poorly understood galaxy named COSMOS-AzTEC-1Β to find out how it creates stars at a rate 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way. The team, led by Dr. Ken-ichi Tadaki from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array telescope in Chile to get a better understanding of the galaxy, which has a gravitationally unstable gas diskΒ responsible for the high rate of star formation. The findings, published in 2018, will help future researchers get a better understanding of how galaxies form.
NASA
Oil and gas on Saturnβs moon
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2017, NASA's Cassini spacecraft found evidenceΒ that Titan, Saturnβs largest moon, has a lot of methane, ethane, and other organic material formed by carbon-containing compounds on its surface. The findings suggest the number of liquid hydrocarbons in one energy-rich lake is more than all of Earth's oil and gas reserves combined.
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NASA
Magnetic turbulence in space
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Scientists working with NASAβs Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft discovered a new magnetic eventΒ close to Earth. A process known as magnetic reconnectionβwhich happens wherever charged gases called plasma are presentβoccurred in a turbulent region of the Earthβs outer atmosphere known as the magnetosheath. Scientists can use these findings to see how the magnetic event might affect Earthβs atmosphere, along with the astronauts, satellites, and signals that travel through space.
NASA
79 moons around Jupiter
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2017, Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science was on the hunt for a giant planet, but when he and his team used the Victor Blanco TelescopeΒ in Chile to peek around Jupiter, they found 12 new moons . That brings the giant planetβs total to 79 moons.
NASA
Ice cliffs on Mars
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Ice cliffs were discoveredΒ on Mars by a team led by Colin Dundas from the Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. The findings were publishedΒ in 2018. Since then, NASA has taken images of the ice cliffs, and now that around one-third of Mars is covered in ice, just below the planetβs surface.
NASA
7 Earth-size planets
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
In 2017, scientists discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, a sun only 39 light-years away. Michael Gillon of the University of Liege in Belgium led the research team that studied the star using the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
NASA/JPL-Caltech // Wikimedia Commons
First interstellar object in solar system
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
Researchers spotted the first interstellar object in the galaxyβnicknamed Oumuamuaβwith the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii. The rotating object was at least the size of a football field, lead researcher Karen Meech, of the University of Hawaii's Institute of Astronomy, told CNN .
ESO/M. Kornmesser // Wikimedia Commons
First photograph of a black hole
Updated
Mar 2, 2023
The first piece of direct visual evidence of a black hole was shared with the world on April 10, 2019. Until this point, many believed black holes were βunseeable.β A team of more than 200 researchers created a virtual Earth-sized telescope by coordinating a global network of telescopes to capture the picture of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Messier 87 (also known as M87) galaxy, which is more than 55 million light-years away from Earth. Katie Bouman, a 29-year-old computer scientist, is credited for leading the creation of the algorithm that made this technology possible.
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center // Flickr
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