Supermassive Black Hole

After 16 years of photographing the galactic center of the Milky Way (its the galaxy we live in Michelle) scientists have proven the presence of a supermassive black hole "powering" our galaxy. The Milky Way has huge spiral arms (we are in the one called Orion) which are all rotating around the galactic center.

It's always been assumed that there was a large black hole at the center, but now there is tangible proof of existence. Since we can't SEE a black hole we can infer it's presence by looking at the stars that surround it. This was published in the Journal of Astrophysics in October if you want some dense reading...:) I heard the ESO (European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere) was going to release a time lapse video so they finally did today. I was all geeked up...:) You can see full videos at the ESO Website, but I am posting a short one here. Hope you enjoy it!

The supermassive black hole is calculated to be roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun, but in a MUCH denser package. The video zooms in from afar and shows several stars, but a star (called S2) orbiting the black hole shows the location. In the video it's located in the upper right of the central cluster of stars. It makes a sharp U-Turn and comes within 1 light day of the black hole; about 5 times the distance of Neptune & the Sun. 1 light day is the distance that light can travel in 24 hours. Quick calculation, Speed of light 299,792,458 meters per second, 31,536,000 seconds in a year. So light can travel 9,454,254,955,488,000 meters in a year (or 5.88 Trillion Miles)! It doesn't look that far in the video...:)
You can also read a little more at APOD if you want. Fun Fun!