Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2019

12 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 SPACE CHRONICLES Most detailed observatio material orbiting close t black hole by ESO E SO's exquisitely sensitive GRAVITY instrument has added further evidence to the long-standing assumption that a supermassive black hole lurks in the centre of the Milky Way. New observations show clumps of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit just outside a four million solar mass black hole — the first time material has been observed orbiting close to the point of no return, and the most detailed observations yet of material orbiting this close to a black hole. This visualisation uses data from simulations of orbital motions of gas swirling around at about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit around the black hole. [ESO/Gravity Consortium/L. Calçada]