CHINA: Chinese scientists say they have gathered evidence showing that a giant object in the centre of our galaxy is a super-massive black hole.
Zhi-Qiang Shen and researchers at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory said yesterday they had captured radio waves emitted just beyond the edge of the mysterious object, known as Sagittarius A, with a system of 10 radio telescopes spread across the US.
In a report in the journal Nature, they said it "provides strong evidence that Sagittarius A is a super-massive black hole".
The celestial objects that suck in everything around them including light are among the most mysterious objects in the universe. They are formed when matter from a dying star collapses under its own gravity.
Black holes have been described as the ultimate victory over gravity because of their ability to suck in stars and other galactic features.
Scientists have long suspected the presence of a black hole in the centre of the galaxy. Astronomers believe it is four million times more massive than our sun.
The research reported in Nature suggests the black hole is as wide as the radius of Earth's orbit.
The findings are seen as a further step towards capturing an image of the shadow around the edge of a black hole, which would be a classic test of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. The theory predicts that massive bodies - planets, stars or black holes - actually twist time and space around as they spin.