In about a week's time, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is will share new information about our Milky Way with the world.
It's anyone's guess what they'll unveil, but based on what we know about their recent work, there's plenty of reasons to be excited — the data will come from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, which was responsible for the first-ever photograph of a black hole in 2019.
For years, the EHT has been examining the Milky Way's center, which is most likely home to a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*.
They're making a huge deal out of whatever they've discovered.
Given that the scientists are holding simultaneous press briefings throughout the world, it's likely that what they're hiding is the next installment after the historic 2019 discovery of the first black hole.
On 12 May 2022 at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC, 9:00 EST), a symposium discussing the discoveries will be aired live, followed by a YouTube event with six astronomers from across the globe. "Extensive supporting audiovisual material" will be used in press releases.
If astronomers are successful in producing a direct picture of Sgr A*'s horizon, it will be a momentous occasion not to be missed.
Black holes are very difficult to see since they are completely invisible due to their ability to absorb all electromagnetic radiation. All we can expect to see is the event horizon; basically, the contour of the black hole, which marks the point at which light can no longer escape its gravitational pulls.
We can't wait to see what the ESO has in store for us and one thing is for sure that it will be a huge step forward.
The hype around this announcement seems to be greater than last time when the announced the first picture of a Black Hole, which was a major step forward. Now this seems to be a groundbreaking discovery that this will reveal in about a wee
Reference(s): ESO