Chinese researchers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory have announced that they have solid evidence confirming the “undeniable” existence of a massive black hole right at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Astronomer Zhi-Qiang Shen stated that they have detected signals in the form of radio waves emanating from the edge of the mysterious object Sagittarius A located at the center of the Milky Way, indicating that this object is indeed a supermassive black hole with a mass four million times greater than that of the Sun and a diameter 200 times that of the Sun.
Black holes are among the most enigmatic celestial bodies in the universe, formed from the collapse of matter (for example, a star with a mass five times that of the Sun) and possessing gravitational forces so strong that not even light can escape. Consequently, detecting a black hole is often more challenging than finding a needle in a haystack.
However, scientists have noted that they can still “see” the black hole thanks to high-energy rays in the form of radio waves generated by atoms that are pulled into the black hole, colliding with one another at extremely high speeds.
HIẾU TRUNG (Reuters, Shanghai Daily, New York Times)
