Astronomy Picture of the Day

Explanation: At the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy lies a black hole with over 2 million times the mass of the Sun. Once a controversial claim, this astounding conclusion is now virtually inescapable and based on observations of stars orbiting very near the galactic centre. Using one of the Paranal Observatory's very large telescopes and the sophisticated infrared camera NACO, astronomers patiently followed the orbit of a particular star, designated S2, as it came within about 17 light-hours of the centre of the Milky Way (17 light-hours is only about 3 times the radius of Pluto's orbit). Their results convincingly show that S2 is moving under the influence of the enormous gravity of an unseen object which must be extremely compact -- a supermassive black hole. This deep NACO near-infrared image shows the crowded inner 2 light-years of the Milky Way with the exact position of the galactic centre indicated by arrows. NACO's ability to track stars so close to the galactic centre can accurately measure the black hole's mass and perhaps even provide an unprecedented test of Einstein's theory of gravity as astronomers watch a star orbit a supermassive black hole.