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Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole in the heart of the Milky Way, is orbited by three massive young stars that have been dubbed "S-Stars" and surround it incredibly.
These strange objects aroused a lot of interest a few years ago, when astronomers were still trying to understand how these stars found themselves at such a short distance from Sagittarius A – a violent place exerting a massive gravitational pull , Phys.org reported some time ago
One of these stars, known as S2 (or S-02), was eagerly watched by the l-39 Southern European Observatory (ESO) over the last 26 years, in an effort to understand its movement through the extreme gravitational field around Sagittarius A.
All of this effort finally paid off, Science Daily reported earlier today, giving the first direct observation of a phenomenon called gravitational redsh ift – stretching the star light at longer wavelengths long because of the ravished black hole, which slightly shifts its color to red
"The change in light wavelength of S2 (S0-2) prediction by the theory of general relativity of Einstein, "Proving that the eminent theoretical physicist was right," ESO announced Thursday.
This is the first time that this particular effect of Einstein's gravitational theory is observed in the movement of a star. a supermassive black hole, and the third great experience of last month to prove the theory of general relativity of 100 years is correct.
Earlier this month, Inquisitr reported that the theory The principle of equivalence "has been proven in a three-star system located 4,200 light-years from our planet. In late June, another gravitational experiment conducted on a nearby galaxy confirmed that Einstein's theory of general relativity is the correct theory of gravity on an astronomical scale, according to a report Inquisitr ]. With the VLT
Described in a study published last week in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics this incredible breakthrough belongs to an international team of scientists led by Reinhard Genzel of the Max Institute Planck for Extraterrestrials Studying the star orbiting Sagittarius A with three very sensitive instruments mounted on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), namely GRAVITY, NACO and SINFONI, the team got his first observations of S2. back in 2016, then again on May 19 this year, when the star reached the center of gravity – or the nearest orbital point to the center of gravity of the black hole.
The pioneering environment around Sagittarius A – which represents the strongest gravitational field of any galaxy, notes ESO – offered scientists the perfect opportunity to test gravitational physics, particularly the gravitational theory of Einstein. to see how the immense gravitational pull of the supermassive black hole accelerated S2 to an impressive 25 million kilometers per hour (15.5 million mph), reaching nearly three percent of the speed of light because the Star passed less than 20 billion kilometers Einstein's relativity theorem proved correct near the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. "width =" 670 "height =" 420 "srcset =" https://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/S2-redshifting-near-Sagittarius-A-670×420.jpg 670w, https : //cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/S2-redshifting-near-Sagittarius-A.jpg 700w "sizes =" (max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px "/>
million. Kornmesser
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ESO
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According to Science Alert S2 is one of two "S-Stars" orbiting the central black hole of the Milky Way that is closest to Sagittarius A of the pericentre . The star surrounds the supermassive black hole in a 16-year-old elliptical orbit and is only 17 light hours from the heart of the Milky Way during its closest approach to Sagittarius A. It is about four times the distance between the sun and Neptune, and about 150 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.
"We have been preparing intensely for this event for several years because we wanted to take this unique opportunity to observe the general relativistic effects," said Genzel A statement
"Our first observations of S2, he about two years ago already showed that we would have the ideal black hole laboratory, "added Frank Eisenhauer, co-principal investigator of GRA VLT, also a member of the MEP. to have a glimpse of redshifting S2 near Sagittarius A was not an easy task. This supermassive black hole, containing four million solar masses, is 26,000 light years from our planet and is wrapped in a thick veil of dust clouds that obstructs any visible light observation.
The team was able to capture the first redshift of a star near a supermassive black hole only thanks to infrared observations with the three instruments of the VLT
"C & # 39; the second time we observe the narrow passage of S2 around the black hole in our galactic center.But this time, thanks to the improvement of the instrumentation, we were able to observe the star with an unprecedented resolution, "said Genzel
" During the narrow passage [on May 19] we could even detect the faint glow around the black hole, images, which allowed us to accurately follow the star on his orbit, eventually leading to the detection of gravitational redshift in the spectrum of S2 ", explains Eisenhauer.
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