“Do you know astronomers think there’s a black hole at the center of every galaxy?” Orak said.
“Is there a black hole in our Milky Way galaxy as well?” Felix said.
“Yes, there is. It is called Sagittarius A,” Scorch said, “It is 26,000 light-years away from Earth. It is also four million times larger than our Sun.”
“An international team of astronomers (scientists who study space) has revealed the first image of the black hole. The photograph was recently captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). EHT is a global network of telescopes that act as one large telescope,” Orak informed.
“That’s splendid news!” Verum said.
Orak explained, “Black holes have a strong gravitational pull. They are huge. They don’t have a surface like our planets. They are simply known as a region of space. Black holes feed on dust, gas, stars, planets, and everything that comes their way. Every black hole has a boundary known as the event horizon. Once an object crosses the line of the event horizon, it cannot escape. The object will fall into the black hole.
But as the object falls into the black hole, it doesn’t fall in a straight line. It spirals around the black hole to form a large, thin disc. It is known as the accretion disk of a black hole.
Sagittarius A is a supermassive black hole. A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole.”
“But I want to know, how did EHT capture the image of Sagittarius A?” Scorch said.
“It captured the light around the black hole. It presented the burning accretion disk of Sagittarius A,” Orak answered.
“It’s exciting to see the image of a black hole in our galaxy, isn’t it?” Verum said. Orak, Scorch, and Felix agreed.