A Doughnut on Fire

“For the first time, we have a direct snapshot of the black hole Sagittarius A,” astronomers

announced this Thursday. This supermassive object lies at the heart of the Milky Way, approximately 26,000 light-years away from Earth, according to a statement from NASA. Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of black holes in 1916, with his general theory of relativity. The term "black hole" was coined many years later in 1967 by American astronomer John Wheeler. After being seen as only theoretical objects for decades, the first black hole ever, Cygnus X-1, was discovered to be located within the Milky Way in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. However, it was not until in 2019 that scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration first took an image of a black hole. The striking photo of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth thrilled scientists around the world. However, our understanding of the black hole is still very limited. As movies involving such colossal giants and theories about their formation file out one after another from people’s imagination, more secrets about this burning doughnut are awaiting ahead of us.

References:

Black holes: Everything you need to know By Nola Taylor Tillman , Daisy Dobrijevic , Ben Biggs

The Milky Way’s Black Hole Comes to Light By Dennis Overbye