Earth is 2,000 light-years closer to a supermassive black hole than scientists realized

New research has revealed that Earth is 2,000 light-years closer to a black hole than we previously thought.

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The discovery comes from the Japanese radio astronomy project VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), which since 2000 has been mapping three-dimensional velocity and special structures in the Milky Way.

Scientists used a technique called interferometry – which combines interference from light, radio, or sound waves from two or more telescopes to get a detailed picture of the sky – on information collected by radio telescopes across Japan.

This means that it can map with the same resolution as a 2300 km diameter telescope; by comparison that resolution (10 micro-seconds of arc) is sufficient to resolve a cent that has been placed on the moon.

Based on this catalog and recent observations by other astronomers, the scientists built a map of position and velocity and calculated the center of the galaxy, home to the supermassive black hole Sagitterius A *.

The map suggests that the galaxy’s center is 25,800 light-years from Earth, rather than the official 27,700-light-year value that has been used by the International Astronomical Union since 1985.

These new data also indicate that Earth is traveling faster than previously thought, moving at 227 km / s (kilometers per second) around the Galactic Center rather than the official 220 km / s.

This new research, called “The First VERA Astrometry Catalog”, is available in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.

VERA hopes to now track more objects to better characterize the galaxy’s structure and motion, using data from EAVN (the East Asian VLBI network).

EAVN uses data from radio telescopes from Japan, South Korea and China, which would make its readings even more accurate and provide more valuable data for scientists studying the cosmos.

Sagitterius A * triggered a “cataclysmic” explosion recently enough to occur when our first ancestors walked the Earth, scientists believe, and last year it was found to send out strange, inexplicable flashes.

It is one of the potential thousands of supermassive bodies in the heart of the Milky Way.