Astronomers release 1st image of black hole at center of Milky Way
天の川銀河「巨大ブラックホール」の撮影に初成功 国立天文台など国際チーム
NHK -- May 13
An international group of astronomers, with the participation of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, says it has captured the first image of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
The group, called the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, made the announcement on Thursday. The researchers say the image is an average composition of observations from a network of radio telescopes located at six observatories around the world.
Observing black holes is difficult as gravity prevents light from escaping them.
The group says the black hole in the Milky Way is about 27,000 light years from Earth in the direction of the Sagittarius constellation. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.
The image released by the group shows a dark central region encircled by a bright ring-like structure of gas superheated by the pull of gravity.
The group says its observational data of the black hole matches conventional predictions -- it has a gravitational mass roughly 4 million times larger than that of the Sun and measures some 60 million kilometers in diameter.
In 2019, the group made public what it called the first image of a black hole at the center of a more distant galaxy.
The group says the latest image will offer important clues to help unravel how the Milky Way galaxy formed and evolved.
地球がある天の川銀河の中心にある巨大ブラックホールの撮影に初めて成功したと国立天文台などが参加する国際チームが発表しました。
明るいリングの内側の暗く黒い部分が巨大ブラックホールの輪郭です。
12日、日本の国立天文台なども参加する国際研究チームは、太陽系がある天の川銀河の中心にある「いて座Aスター」と呼ばれる巨大ブラックホールの撮影に初めて成功したと発表しました。
ブラックホールの強い重力に引き寄せられた物質が周囲を高温・高速で回転し、明るい輪のように見え、中心にある本来撮影できないはずのブラックホールの輪郭が浮かび上がっているということです。
ブラックホールの輪郭の直径は6000万キロメートルで、ブラックホールの本体はさらに内側にあり直径は2400万キロメートルです。
地球からの距離はおよそ2万7000光年、質量は太陽の400万倍ほどだということです。 - ANNnewsCH
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