Black hole
Sagittarius A*
Also Sgr A*
The supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
Measured
- Distance
- about 26,996 light-years (published estimates 26,900–27,100)
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Position (J2000)
- RA 17h 45m 40s, Dec −29.01°
How far, from the Sun
About 27,000 light-years. To cross it:
- Light27,000 years
- Voyager 1's speed480 million years
- Driving at 100 km/h291 billion years
Voyager 1 at the speed it moved outward over the year to 2026-10-25 (JPL Horizons). Driving: nonstop, never refuelling.
Facts
- It is about 4.3 million times the Sun's mass, measured from stars orbiting it.
- The star S2 circles it about every 16 years.
- Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel shared half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.
- The Event Horizon Telescope released the first image of its shadow in May 2022.
Stars going round it
S55S2S38S21S18S23S13S9S14S12S17S4S39S60S29S8S175S31S19S1S33S6S24S42S71S89S145S67S54S22S83S96S66R34S91S97S87R44S85
Where this comes from
- GRAVITY Collaboration 2022, A&A 657, L12, the orbits of four stars (8,277 ± 9 pc)
Every catalogue Ouranos draws is credited on the credits page.