The Milky Way and Her Official Black Hole.
I remember the first time I heard about a Black Hole I was somewhat scared. The idea behind this has been around for many years. Yet there are still people that believe it is a theory. Astronomers knew they existed, but recently found conclusive evidence that there was one lurking in the middle of our own galaxy.
Telescope
A mere 30 000 light years away is not very far in astronomical terms but it is far enough that the black hole will leave us in peace. In a recent study, a German team of Astronomers managed to produce conclusive evidence that the Milky Way circled around a Black Hole. It is big, super and massive. Since the center has a lot of dust and gas, the black hole is obscured. This means we can not see it and have to use radio signals to penetrate the center to see what it does to stars. This was done and by using the orbits of 30 stars they could calculate what was causing them to behave the way they did. The center of the Galaxy lies in the direction of Scorpio and this is also where the stars were studied. The observations revealed enough detail to tell us what we already believed. A Black Hole holds them captive.
The center exerts immense gravitational fields and it showed a star rotating around the center within the 16 year research period. Astronomers have been studying Black Holes in other galaxies but this was the first time they could produce evidence that we can now study our own Black Hole. Behind the dust it will always be shy but we know it is there and just have to better our instruments. Infrared wavelengths can tell us much more than visible light and so we do not really need more for now at least. Just like the Sun shapes the paths of the planets the Black Hole also shapes that of the Sun.
The latest studies also pointed out that we are 27 000 light years from the center, a bit closer than our anticipated 30 000 light years. The astronomers at the La Silla Paranal Observatory in Chile brought the evidence using telescopes and specially fitted cameras. They found a bee hive of activity as the stars race around the center. Our Sun takes 225 million years to orbit the center and that puts the speed of the stars on the inside in perspective.
The Milky Way Galaxy Center - Is the Black Hole There?