Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at the "gentle giant" lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy — an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter within its huge gravitational pull but is currently on a bit of a diet.
The black hole — called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* — is the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first photo of a black hole — that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.
University of Arizona astronomer Feryal Ozel, at a news conference in Washington, hailed "the first direct image of the gentle giant in the center of our galaxy," showing a glowing ring of red, yellow and white surrounding a darker center.