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	Message: : Just today, I came across stories about the real Galactic Core, Sagittarius : A*. Other than tweets about it and Tomb Raider themed memes regarding the : picture of what the main subject here is, the first actual article I : looked at on the matter revealed the thing the aforementioned were talking : about: scientists have been working on actually observing it and we now : have the first fruits of that labour: https://www.space.com/sagittarius-a : AGITTARIUS A*: OBSERVATIONS : Everything in our 13.6 billion-year-old galaxy orbits Sagittarius A*, : including our solar system , which is located 26,000 light-years : away. : Black holes are notoriously difficult to spot, usually only inferred by the : effects they have on their environment. This is because not only do they : not emit light, but black holes also trap photons behind a boundary called : the event horizon, making studying them directly in optical light near : impossible. : Observing Sagittarius A* from Earth is made even more difficult due to the : fact that it is shrouded by a thick screen of intervening dust. : Fortunately, astronomers have developed other ways of gaining insights into : Sagittarius A*. For instance, the mass of a central body and its radius : can be determined by observing the gravitational influence that it has on : the objects that orbit it. : To observe Sagittarius A*, astronomers monitored the star S2 , which : orbits Sagittarius A* at a distance of 11 billion miles (18 billion km) : and a speed of 17.1 million mph (11.4 kph) . The star also has a : highly elliptical 16-year orbit. : SAGITTARIUS A* FIRST IMAGE : On May 12, 2022, scientists unveiled our first view of Sagittarius A* in a : striking image. : : An image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, a : behemoth dubbed Sagittarius A*, was revealed by the Event Horizon : Telescope on May 12, 2022. (Image credit: Event Horizon Telescope : collaboration) : The image was captured using observations of light — the light emitted by : matter that's heated up as it hurtles toward the center of Sag A*. This : technique gives scientists a view of essentially the shadow of the black : hole. : Capturing an image of a black hole is no easy task and requires a global : network of observatories that coordinates to act like a telescope the size : of Earth — the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). : Related: Here's How Scientists Turned the World Into a Telescope (to See a : Black Hole) : There is still a great deal to learn about Sagittarius A* but the first image : of the Milky Way’s central black hole could reveal further secrets held by : the cosmic object that has shaped our galaxy. : : Interesting reading. Here's hoping in the not too distant future (Next Sunday : AD), we get plausible IRL coordinates for Lh'owon. ;) : That does make me wonder though: Is the solar system 97 light years from : Sagittarius A* or inside the horizon, with the "gravitational centre : of the milky way" being the core of the black hole as opposed to the : hole itself? If it's the former, would 97 light years be a minimum safe : distance? I know that planets can orbit black holes if they're far enough : away without getting sucked in, contrary to popular culture. Would stars : like the Lh'owon Solar System's sun be able to orbit a super massive one : the same way? : I'm no astronomer so an expert's opinion on the matter is more than welcome. : Incidentally, the orange glow from Sagittarius A* in the photograph reminds : me of the nebula in the background of Marathon 2's space skybox when on : Boomer and the Hfarl. :
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