What is at the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy?
What is at the center of the Milky Way galaxy?
The answer is a supermassive black hole!
What is a black hole?
A black hole is a place in space where gravity is super strong. It is like a really deep, dark well that can pull in everything, even light!
What is a supermassive black hole?
A supermassive black hole is a black hole that is super, super big! It is much bigger than a regular black hole. The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A*.
How big is Sagittarius A*?
Sagittarius A* is really, really big! It is about 4.3 million times heavier than our Sun. If you could put 4.3 million Suns together, it still wouldn’t be as heavy as Sagittarius A*!
Why is there a black hole at the center of our galaxy?
Scientists think that almost every galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center. It is like a part of the galaxy. The supermassive black hole helps to hold the galaxy together.
Can we see the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy?
It is very hard to see the supermassive black hole because it is really far away and it is dark. But scientists can use special telescopes and tools to study it. They can look at the things around it to tell that it is there.
Is the black hole dangerous?
The black hole at the center of our galaxy is really far away from us. It is not dangerous for us here on Earth. But if we were really close to it, we would need to stay away because it is very powerful!
What happens if something goes too close to the black hole?
If something gets too close to the black hole, it gets pulled in! It would stretch and squeeze the thing until it all disappears into the black hole. That’s why we need to stay away from it!
Does the black hole move?
The black hole doesn’t move around like we do. It is stuck at the center of the galaxy. But the galaxy itself is moving and spinning. So, the black hole goes along with it.
So, remember, at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*!
