Astronomers have recently discovered a young star in the violent and tortured environment around the supermassive black hole at the core of the Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
About Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) –
- It is a supermassive black hole located at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.
- It is located in the constellation Sagittarius.
- It has a mass equivalent to four million Suns.
- It has a diameter of around 5 million kilometres .
- It is mostly dormant and only occasionally absorbs gas or dust.
- The event horizon of the black hole has a radius of 12 million km.
What is a Black hole?
- A black hole is a region in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out.
- The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
- Because no light can get out, it is difficult to detect a black hole.
- The largest black holes are called “supermassive.” These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together.
- Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of black holes in 1916, with his general theory of relativity.
What is the ‘event horizon’ of a Black hole?
- It is the boundary defining the region of space around a black hole from which nothing (not even light) can escape.
- The escape velocity for an object within the event horizon exceeds the speed of light.
- The radius of the event horizon is called the Schwarzschild radius, after the German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild.
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