Astronomers reveal first image of black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy
Berlin, May 12: Astronomers on Thursday unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy.
The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants, which are thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies.
The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.
The finding was unveiled during simultaneous press conferences around the world, including at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) headquarters in Germany.
The image is a long-anticipated look at the massive object that sits at the very centre of our galaxy. Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way.
This strongly suggested that this object known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* ) is a black hole, and the image provides the first direct visual evidence of it.
Although we cannot see the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals a tell-tale signature: a dark central region (called a shadow) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure, the researchers said.
The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun, they said.
We were stunned by how well the size of the ring agreed with predictions from Einstein's Theory of General Relativity," said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei.
"These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very centre of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings," Bower said.
Because the black hole is about 27 000 light-years away from Earth, it appears to us to have about the same size in the sky as a doughnut on the Moon.
To image it, the team created the powerful EHT, which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single Earth-sized virtual telescope.
The EHT observed Sgr A* on multiple nights in 2017, collecting data for many hours in a row, similar to using a long exposure time on a camera.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Railways announces 84 special trains following IndiGo flight cancellations
New Delhi (PTI): The Railways announced 84 special trains across all zones for Saturday to help people facing travel disruptions due to the mass flight cancellations by IndiGo.
In a coordinated move by the Railway Ministry, the trains, which are to make 104 trips, were arranged in the shortest possible time after analysis of train traffic situations in major cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Patna, and Howrah, among others.
"The number of special trains and their trips might increase further depending on the traffic scenario. All zones have been asked to make use of all available resources, including rolling stock as well as manpower, to safely operate these trains for the convenience of lakhs of passengers stranded at different parts of the country due to flight cancellations," said Dilip Kumar, Executive Director, Information & Publicity, Railway Board.
Officials said efforts are being made to make people aware about the trains, and some divisions have even disseminated information at nearby airports to help passengers.
South Eastern Railway has issued a press release and informed the Airport Authority to display information regarding the newly introduced special train services.
ALSO READ: SWR announces special trains for passengers stranded by large-scale IndiGo cancellations
"Western Railway will run seven special trains on a special fare between Mumbai Central-New Delhi, Mumbai Central-Bhiwani, Mumbai Central-Shakur Basti, Bandra Terminus-Durgapura, Valsad-Bilaspur, Sabarmati-Delhi and Sabarmati-Delhi Sarai Rohilla stations," a press note said.
Similarly, South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights.
Central Railway and Northern Railway have planned 14 and 10 special trains respectively, and officials said these numbers are being further reviewed to meet any rising requirements.
Other zones have also issued notifications regarding special trains along with their schedules.
For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggages have been misplaced.
