Earth is 2,000 light years closer to the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole than previously thought

A new map of the Milky Way created by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan shows that the Earth is spiraling faster and is 2000 light years closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy than previously thought .

In 1985, the International Astronomical Union announced that Earth was 27,700 light years away from the black hole, named Sagittarius A *. But a 15-year analysis as part of Japan’s VERA radio astronomy project found that Earth is actually only 25,800 light years away. They also found that the Earth was moving 7 km / s faster than they previously thought.

Sagittarius A * and similar black holes are nicknamed “supermassive” for a reason – they are billions of times more massive than the sun.

But the NAOJ said there was no cause for concern as the latest data does not indicate the planet is “diving towards the black hole.” It just means that there is now a “best model of the Milky Way galaxy”.

Using the VERA Astrometry Catalog, scientists created a position and speed map that shows the center of the Milky Way galaxy and the objects that reside there. The first VERA Astrometry Catalog was published this year and includes data for 99 objects.

The positioning indicates that the Earth revolves around the Galactic Center, where the black hole is located, at 227 km / s. Astronomers originally believed that the orbit was at a speed of 220 km / s.

“Because Earth is located inside the Milky Way, we cannot step back and see what the Galaxy looks like from the outside,” NAOJ said in a press release. “Astrometry, the precise measurement of the positions and movements of objects, is an essential tool for understanding the overall structure of the Galaxy and our place in it.”

VERA, Very Long Baseline Interferometry Exploration of Radio Astrometry, was established in 2000 and uses interferometry to aggregate data from radio telescopes located across Japan. With the project, scientists can create the same resolution as a 2,300 km diameter telescope, which “is sharp enough in theory to resolve a US penny placed on the moon’s surface,” NAOJ said.

Scientists at the NAOJ hope to collect data on even more objects, focusing on those close to Sagittarius A *.