We are so inundated with sumptuous synthetic spatial images, particularly through video games and science fiction films, that it is sometimes difficult to take the measure of the feat that a blurry snapshot like the one that can represent has just been unveiled Thursday, at the same time as six scientific publications published in the reference journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
.
However, this is the first true portrait of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole that nestles in the heart of our galaxy.
This is only the second time that a photo of this type has been produced, after the snapshot of the M87* black hole which made headlines around the world – including Le Figaro – in 2019.
Read also“Unprecedented” black holes shake space
How to take the measure of such a feat?
It may already be necessary to imagine how small this black hole is on astronomical scales.
By dint of speaking
of "ogre
" or "
mastodon
" to describe it, we forget a little too quickly how tiny it is.
Imagine…
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