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Sagittarius A*

Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*, is the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It has a mass of approximately 4.297±0.012 million solar masses. Astronomers cannot see the black hole directly because light cannot escape its gravitational pull, but they observe the glowing gas and dust falling toward it. By studying stars orbiting around it, astronomers confirmed that supermassive black holes truly exist and verified Einstein's theory of relativity. In May 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first image of Sagittarius A*, showing its shadow.

Sources

• en.wikipedia.org: “The current best estimate of its mass is 4.297±0.012 million solar masses.”
• en.wikipedia.org: “On May 12, 2022, the first image of Sagittarius A* was released by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.”