Earth is getting closer to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy than we thought.

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This map suggests that the center of the Milky Way and the black hole that lies there are 25,800 light years from Earth. According to the National Observatory for Japan, the value of 27,700 light years accepted by the International Astronomical Union in 1985 is very close to the official value.

Furthermore, our solar system orbits the center of the galaxy at a speed of 227 kilometers per second, which is faster than the actual value of 220 kilometers per second.

Since the Earth is inside the Milky Way, it is difficult to go back and see what the galaxy looks like. To overcome this problem, the project’s astronomy accurately measures the position and movement of objects to understand the overall structure of the Milky Way and the position of the Earth in it.

The black hole, also known as Sagittarius A * or SGRA *, is 4.2 million times larger than our Sun. The Milky Way and its vast gravitational field control the orbits of the stars at the center of the Milky Way. Reinhard Jensel and Andrea Guess won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery. There are many types of black holes, which scientists believe may be supermassively related to the formation of galaxies because they often exist at the center of giant galaxies, but it is not yet clear how or what they first formed.

A more precise approach

In August, Vera released her first catalog, which contained data on 99 celestial objects. Based on this catalog and recent observations by other groups, the astronomers developed a map of position and velocity. From this map, scientists were able to calculate the center of the galaxy and everything revolves around it.

Vera integrates data from four radio telescopes across Japan. When combined, astronomers can even find an American penny placed on the lunar surface in theory that telescopes could achieve resolution.

Clearly, this doesn’t mean the Earth is falling into a black hole, the observatory said. Conversely, the map more accurately identifies the location of the solar system.