Black hole scientists set to reveal 'groundbreaking' Milky Way discovery

THE scientists who gave the world a first glimpse of a black hole may be about to repeat their achievement - this time much closer to home.

A press conference by researchers behind the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), is set to announce "groundbreaking Milky Way results" on May 12, at 2.00 pm London time. Media reports from outlets including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation suggest the team may reveal an image of the black hole Sagittarius A*, located in the middle of our own galaxy.

The EHT last made headlines in 2019 when it captured the first image of a black hole some 55 million light years away from Earth, with a mass 6.5 billon times that of the sun. The feat was lauded as a major breakthrough in physics.

Sagittarius A* is just 26,000 light years from earth, according to Nasa, and is considered a supermassive black hole at more than 4 million times the mass of the sun. But it's not on its own in the Milky Way. Scientists estimate there could be as many as a billion black holes dotted around the galaxy, according to Nasa. BLOOMBERG