For some time, astronomers have theorised the existence of a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, based on indirect measurements of stars looping around the galactic centre, but no image had been captured to confirm these theories.
The black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, or SGRA*, lies 27,000 light-years from the Sun.
The image was produced by global research team Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.
The results found by this collaboration were laid out in six papers that were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on Thursday.
Experts from Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), the University of Naples Federico II and Cagliari University took part in the preceding research and subsequent discovery.
The Italian Minister of University and Research, Maria Cristina Messa, expressed her pride after the results were published.
“It’s an extraordinary achievement that shows how important international cooperation is in the scientific field, and how great Italy’s contribution is,” Messa said.
“We’ll only realise the importance of this incredible result over time.”
