First-Ever Photo of Milky Way’s Black Hole Not Accurate, Scientists Claim [Video]

A trio of Japanese astronomers has challenged the accuracy of the first-ever image showing the supermassive black hole that lies at the heart of our galaxy.

If confirmed, the findings of the researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, would indicate that the image may not be a true reflection of the black hole’s appearance.

The original image was released in 2022 by an international team known as the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC), which involves hundreds of scientists from around the world. It was created based on observations conducted in 2017 by a network of eight ground-based radio telescopes.

The EHTC image of Sagittarius A*—the black hole at the center of the Milky Way—shows a dark, central region (the black hole’s shadow) surrounded by a bright ring of light (called the accretion disk) that is the result of superheated gas being accelerated by extreme gravitational forces.