Astronomers for the first time "photographed" the center of the Milky Way

The image of the center of our galaxy was set at using a powerful radio telescope MeerKAT

South African astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope were able to "photograph" the area of ​​a supermassive black hole for the first time in the center of the Milky Way (our galaxy). The corresponding photo is published on the website of the observatory.

The Sagittarius A object is 25 thousand light-years away from us in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. Its mass is 4.3 million solar masses.

This area is still surrounded by "clouds" of gas dust, so it's impossible to see anything in an ordinary telescope.

A panorama of the photo covers a space of 1000×500 light years.

The photo also shows the remains of supernovae and still mysterious magnetic scientists, magnetic filament extracts around a black hole. Now we can talk about magnetic fields in the center of the galaxy.

The MierKAT telescope will be part of the largest Square Kilometer Array radio interferometer by 2024. The total area of ​​antennas will exceed 1 square. These sizes will reach 50 times the sensitivity of any other existing radio telescope.