Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope facility, a collaboration of over 300 researchers, revealed the first image of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The black hole, called Sagittarius A*, is four million times the mass of our Sun and is 27,000 light years from us. Astronomers have called this “the first direct image of the gentle giant in the centre of our galaxy.” The recent image shows a doughnut-shaped dark region, circled by light. The light comes from the heated gases that are accelerated by gravitational forces. Its ring is about 60 million km across; roughly the size of Mercury's orbit around the sun. The image was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope. It is an ensemble of several telescopes around the world and is 3 million times sharper than the human eye. When stars reach the end of their lives, they collapse under their own gravity. The product of this collapse, most astronomers believe is a black hole. The gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that even light cannot escape. Thus, we cannot see the heart of a black hole, but only points outside its outer edge. Astronomers say that this image could lead to a better understanding of our galaxy. Read more: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/sagittarius-a-the-milky-ways-dark-centre/article65413228.ece Thank you for watching our video! Voiceover: Abhinaya Sriram Production: Kivleen Kaur Sahni You can subscribe to our channel here: https://bit.ly/3c8Adi6 Visit https://www.thehindu.com/ for the latest updates, analysis, opinions, and more. You can also download our apps: Android: https://bit.ly/3nboBEi iOs: https://apple.co/3EDCwt4 The Hindu is committed to keeping you up-to-date with information on the developments in India and the world. We promise to deliver quality journalism that stays away from vested interest and political propaganda. You can support us by subscribing to our digital offerings here: https://bit.ly/3emywiz Follow us: Twitter: https://twitter.com/the_hindu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_hindu/