What is the bright star in the middle of the Milky Way?

Center of the Milky Way. The center of the Milky Way is a pretty happenin' place. As with most other galaxies, there is a supermassive black hole there. Ours is named Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A-star”, abbreviated as Sgr A*).

Correspondingly, where is the galactic center?

The center of the galaxy is located between the Tail of Scorpius and the Teapot of Sagittarius. From the Northern Hemisphere, look southward in July and August evenings to see these stars. From the Southern Hemisphere, look generally northward, higher in the sky, and turn this chart upside down.

Similarly, why is there a black hole at the center of every galaxy?

Observational evidence indicates that nearly all large galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, located at the galaxy's center. Accretion of interstellar gas onto supermassive black holes is the process responsible for powering quasars and other types of active galactic nuclei.

What are the 4 types of black holes?

There are four types of black holes: stellar, intermediate, supermassive, and miniature. The most commonly known way a black hole forms is by stellar death.

How many black holes are in the Milky Way?

Judging from the number of stars large enough to produce such black holes, however, scientists estimate that there are as many as ten million to a billion such black holes in the Milky Way alone.

Can we see the center of the Milky Way?

Note that we can't really see the center of the galaxy with our eyes because there is dust in the way! Annotated image of the Milky Way. The Galactic Center is unfortunately hidden by dark dust in visible light! The very center of the Milky Way is known as the Galactic Center.

What will happen to our galaxy in 4 billion years?

Four billion years from now, our galaxy, the Milky Way, will collide with our large spiraled neighbor, Andromeda. The galaxies as we know them will not survive. In fact, our solar system is going to outlive our galaxy. Currently, Andromeda and the Milky Way are about 2.5 million light-years apart.

Do all galaxies have black holes?

Observational evidence indicates that nearly all large galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, located at the galaxy's center. In the case of the Milky Way, the supermassive black hole corresponds to the location of Sagittarius A* at the Galactic Core.

What's at the center of the universe?

Where is the centre of the universe? There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 thousand million years ago and has been expanding ever since. Yet there is no centre to the expansion; it is the same everywhere.

What is the closest galaxy to us?

The closest known galaxy to us is the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, at 236,000,000,000,000,000 km (25,000 light years) from the Sun. The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy is the next closest , at 662,000,000,000,000,000 km (70,000 light years) from the Sun.

How do we know what our galaxy looks like?

One gets a rough idea of the shape of the Milky Way galaxy by just looking around--a ragged, hazy band of light circles the sky. That observation indicates that our Milky Way Galaxy is a flattened disk of stars, with us located somewhere near the plane of the disk. Were it not a flattened disk, it would look different.

How close are stars at the center of the galaxy?

(1) Stars near the center of our galaxy are packed close together. The center of our galaxy is 8000 parsecs away, in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.

What would the night sky look like from the center of the galaxy?

If we found ourselves on a planet near the Galactic Center, our nighttime sky would light up in a blazing display every night, filled with stars as bright as the planet Venus looks to us. Dust becomes virtually transparent at these longer wavelengths, and the “smog” fades away to reveal the bright Galactic Center.

How far is the Sun from the center of the galaxy?

The Milky Way is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km (about 100,000 light years or about 30 kpc) across. The Sun does not lie near the center of our Galaxy. It lies about 8 kpc from the center on what is known as the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.

Is the earth the center of the universe?

Initially, Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe, which consisted only of those planets visible with the naked eye and an outlying sphere of fixed stars.

How does the center of the Milky Way compare to other galaxy centers?

The center of the Milky Way is a pretty happenin' place. As with most other galaxies, there is a supermassive black hole there. Looking at the center of the Milky Way doesn't reveal much in visible light, but radio, infrared, and X-ray telescopes can tell us a lot about the black hole lurking there.

Is the sun the center of our galaxy?

Yes, the Sun - in fact, our whole solar system - orbits around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. We are moving at an average velocity of 828,000 km/hr. But even at that high rate, it still takes us about 230 million years to make one complete orbit around the Milky Way! The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.

What's inside a black hole?

A black hole is a tremendous amount of matter crammed into a very small — in fact, zero — amount of space. The result is a powerful gravitational pull, from which not even light can escape — and, therefore, we have no information or insight as to what life is like inside.