Earth is as close to a supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy as we thought

This map indicates that the center of the galaxy, and the black hole that sits there, is located 25,800 light-years from Earth. This is closer to the official value of 27,700 light years adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1985, according to Japan’s National Observatory.

In addition, according to the map, our solar system is traveling around 227 kilometers per second while orbiting the second lactic center – this is faster than the official value of 220 kilometers per second, the publication added.

Since Earth is located inside the galaxy, it is difficult to step back and see what the galaxy looks like. To think about this, the project uses astrometry, accurate measurement of the position and motion of objects, to understand the overall structure of the galaxy and the position of the earth in it.

The black hole Sagittarius is known as A * or SGR A * and is 2.6 million times larger than our Sun. The supermassive hole and its enormous gravitational field govern the orbit of stars at the center of the galaxy. Reinhard Ganzel and Andrea Gaze won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discoveries. There are many types of black holes, and scientists believe that supermassive ones may have been involved in the formation of the galaxy, as it mostly exists at the center of giant star systems – but it is not yet clear how, or which one formed before.

A more specific approach

In August Gust, Vera published its first list, which contained data on 99 celestial bodies. Based on recent observations by this list and other groups, astronomers created a location and velocity map. From this map, scientists were able to calculate the center of the galaxy, the point at which everything revolves.

VERA combines data from four radio telescopes in Japan. When paired, the telescope was able to achieve a resolution that, in principle, would allow astronomers to see pennies from the United States placed on the lunar surface, the observatory said.

To be clear, the changes do not mean the Earth is sinking into a black hole, the observatory said. .Latta, maps more accurately identify where the solar system has been.