Multimedia Gallery - First image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way

This is the first image of Sagittarius A*

May 11, 2022

First image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way

This is the first image of Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It's the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which links together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single Earth-sized virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the "event horizon", the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape. There is a link to download the high resolution version of the image in the Links section of the press release.

Credit: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

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Download the high-resolution version of the image. ()

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.