Watch stars move around the Milky Way's supermassive black hole! Astronomers capture the deepest and sharpest images to date of the region around our central void
Astronomers have revealed the 'deepest and sharpest images to date' of the region around our Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole.
The stunning new images, captured at various times earlier this year and released today by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), show several stars moving around their orbit of the black hole, Sagittarius A*.
ESO researchers used the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, to take the shots, which zoom in 20 times more than what was possible before.
They have also revealed a never-before-seen star close to the black hole, called S300 and provide the most precise estimate of the mass of the Milky Way's central black hole to date – 4.3 million times that of the Sun.
European Southern Observatory image taken on March 30, 2021 shows stars as little orange blobs around black hole Sagittarius A* at the centre of the Milky Way

ESO images of stars around Sagittarius A* dated May 29 this year. S29 - the particularly bright star near the centre of this image, second from bottom - made its nearest approach to the black hole in late May 2021

ESO images captured by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) show the movement of stars at the centre of the Milky Way at various points earlier in the year
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