2022The Astrophysical Journal LettersOpen access

First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way

Kazunori Akiyama, A. Alberdi, W. Alef, Juan Carlos Algaba, Richard Anantua, Keiichi Asada, Rebecca Azulay, U. Bach, Anne-Kathrin Baczko, David Ball, Mislav Baloković, John Barrett, Michi Bauböck, B. A. Benson, Dan Bintley, Lindy Blackburn, R. Blundell, Katherine L. Bouman, Geoffrey C. Bower, Hope Boyce, Michael Bremer, Christiaan D. Brinkerink, Roger Brissenden, S. Britzen, Avery E. Broderick, Dominique Broguière, Thomas Bronzwaer, Sandra Bustamante, Do‐Young Byun, J. E. Carlstrom, Chiara Ceccobello, Andrew Chael, Chi‐kwan Chan, Koushik Chatterjee, Shami Chatterjee, Ming‐Tang Chen, Yongjun 永军 Chen 陈, Xiaopeng Cheng, Ilje Cho, Pierre Christian, Nicholas S. Conroy, J. E. Conway, J. M. Cordes, T. M. Crawford, G. Crew, Alejandro Cruz-Osorio, Yuzhu Cui, Jordy Davelaar, Mariafelicia De Laurentis, Roger Deane, Jessica Dempsey, G. Desvignes, Jason Dexter, Vedant Dhruv, Sheperd S. Doeleman, Sean Dougal, Sergio A. Dzib, Ralph P. Eatough, Razieh Emami, H. Falcke, Joseph Farah, Vincent L. Fish, Ed Fomalont, H. Alyson Ford, Raquel Fraga-Encinas, William T. Freeman, Per Friberg, Christian M. Fromm, Antonio Fuentes, Peter Galison, Charles F. Gammie, Roberto García, Olivier Gentaz, Boris Georgiev, C. Goddi, Roman Gold, Arturo I. Gómez-Ruiz, José L. Gómez, Minfeng Gu, Mark Gurwell, Kazuhiro Hada, Daryl Haggard, Kari Haworth, M. H. Hecht, Ronald Hesper, Dirk Heumann, Luis C. Ho, Paul T. P. Ho, Mareki Honma, Chih-Wei L. Huang, Lei Huang, D. H. Hughes, Shiro Ikeda, C. M. Violette Impellizzeri, Makoto Inoue, Sara Issaoun, D. J. James, Buell T. Jannuzi, Michaël Janssen, Britton Jeter, Wu Jiang, Alejandra Jiménez-Rosales, Michael D. Johnson, Svetlana G. Jorstad, Abhishek V. Joshi, Taehyun Jung, Mansour Karami, R. Karuppusamy, Tomohisa Kawashima, Garrett K. Keating, Mark Kettenis, Dong-Jin Kim, Jae-Young Kim, Jongsoo Kim, Junhan Kim, Motoki Kino, Jun Yi Koay, Prashant Kocherlakota, Yutaro Kofuji, Patrick M. Koch, Shoko Koyama, C. Krämer, Michael Kramer, T. P. Krichbaum, Cheng‐Yu Kuo, Noemi La Bella, Tod R. Lauer, Daeyoung Lee, Sang-Sung Lee, Po Kin Leung, Aviad Levis, Zhiyuan 志远 Li 李, Rocco Lico, Greg Lindahl, M. Lindqvist, Mikhail Lisakov, Jun 俊 Liu 刘, Kuo Liu, Elisabetta Liuzzo, Wen-Ping Lo, A. P. Lobanov, Laurent Loinard, C. J. Lonsdale, Ru-Sen Lu, Jirong 基荣 Mao 毛, N. Marchili, Sera Markoff, Daniel P. Marrone, Alan P. Marscher, Iván Martí-Vidal, Satoki Matsushita, Lynn D. Matthews, Lia Medeiros, K. M. Menten, Daniel Michalik, Izumi Mizuno, Yosuke Mizuno, J. M. Moran, Kotaro Moriyama, Monika Mościbrodzka, Cornelia Müller, Alejandro Mus, Gibwa Musoke, I. Myserlis, Andrew Nadolski, Hiroshi Nagai, Neil M. Nagar, Masanori Nakamura, Ramesh Narayan, Gopal Narayanan, Iniyan Natarajan, Antonios Nathanail, Santiago Navarro Fuentes, Joey Neilsen, R. Neri, Chunchong Ni, A. Noutsos, Michael A. Nowak, Junghwan Oh, Hiroki Okino, Héctor Olivares, Gisela N. Ortiz-León, Tomoaki Oyama, Feryal Özel, Daniel C. M. Palumbo, Georgios Filippos Paraschos, Jongho Park, Harriet Parsons, Nimesh Patel, Ue‐Li Pen, Dominic W. Pesce, Vincent Piétu, R. L. Plambeck, Aleksandar PopStefanija, Oliver Porth, Felix M. Pötzl, Ben Prather, Jorge A. Preciado-López, Dimitrios Psaltis, Hung-Yi Pu, Venkatessh Ramakrishnan, Ramprasad Rao, Mark G. Rawlings, Alexander W. Raymond, Luciano Rezzolla, Angelo Ricarte, Bart Ripperda, Freek Roelofs, A. E. E. Rogers, E. Ros, Cristina Romero-Cañizales, Arash Roshanineshat, Helge Rottmann, A. L. Roy, Ignacio Ruiz, Chet Ruszczyk, K. L. J. Rygl, Salvador Sánchez, David Sánchez-Argüelles, M. Sánchez‐Portal, Mahito Sasada, Kaushik Satapathy, T. Savolainen, F. Peter Schloerb, Jonathan Schonfeld, K. Schüster, Lijing Shao, Zhi-Qiang Shen, Des Small, Bong Won Sohn, Jason Soohoo, Kamal Souccar, He Sun, Fumie Tazaki, Alexandra J. Tetarenko, Paul Tiede, R. P. J. Tilanus, Michael Titus, Pablo Torné, Efthalia Traianou, Tyler Trent, Sascha Trippe, Matthew Turk, Ilse van Bemmel, Huib Jan van Langevelde, Daniel R. van Rossum, Jesse Vos, Jan Wagner, D. Ward–Thompson, J. F. C. Wardle, Jonathan Weintroub, Norbert Wex, Robert Wharton, Maciek Wielgus, K. Wiik, Gunther Witzel, Michael F. Wondrak, George N. Wong, Qingwen 庆文 Wu 吴, Paul Yamaguchi, Doosoo Yoon, André Young, Ken Young, Ziri Younsi, Feng 峰 Yuan 袁, Ye-Fei 业飞 Yuan 袁, J. A. Zensus, Shuo Zhang, Guang-Yao Zhao, Shan-Shan Zhao, C. Agurto, Alexander Allardi, Rodrigo Amestica, Juan Pablo Araneda, Oriel Arriagada, J. Berghuis, Alessandra Bertarini, Ryan Berthold, J. Blanchard, Ken Brown, Mauricio Cárdenas, Michael Cantzler, Patricio Caro, Edgar Castillo-Domínguez, Tin Chan, Chih-Cheng Chang, Dominic O. Chang, Shu-Hao Chang, Song-Chu Chang, Chung-Chen Chen, Ryan Chilson, Tim C. Chuter, Mirosław Ciechanowicz, Edgar Colín-Beltrán, I. M. Coulson, Joseph Crowley, N. Degenaar, Sven Dornbusch, C. Durán, W. Everett, Aaron Faber, Karl Förster, Miriam Fuchs, David M. Gale, Gertie Geertsema, E. Gómez González, Dave Graham, Frédéric Gueth, N. W. Halverson, Chih-Chiang Han, Kuo-Chang Han, Yutaka Hasegawa, José Luis Hernández-Rebollar, Cristian Herrera, R. Herrero‐Illana, S. Heyminck, Akihiko Hirota, James Hoge, Shelbi R. Hostler Schimpf, Ryan Howie, Yau-De Huang, Homin Jiang, H. Jinchi, John David, Kimihiro Kimura, Thomas Klein, Derek Kubo, John Kuroda, Caleb Kwon, Richard Lacasse, R. A. Laing, E. M. Leitch, Chao-Te Li, Ching-Tang Liu, Kuan-Yu Liu, L. C.-C. Lin, Li-Ming Lu, F. Mac-Auliffe, Pierre Martin-Cocher, Callie Matulonis, John K. Maute, Hugo Messias, Zheng Meyer-Zhao, Alfredo Montaña, F. M. Montenegro‐Montes, William Montgomerie, Marcos Emir Moreno Nolasco, D. Muders, Hiroaki Nishioka, Timothy Norton, George Nystrom, Hideo Ogawa, Rodrigo Olivares, Peter Oshiro, J. P. Pérez-Beaupuits, Rodrigo Parra, N. Phillips, Michael Poirier, Nicolas Pradel, Richard Qiu, Philippe Raffin, A. Rahlin, Jorge Ramírez, Sean M. Ressler, M. T. Reynolds, Iván Rodríguez-Montoya, Alejandro F. Sáez-Madaín, Jorge Santana, Paul Shaw, Leslie E. Shirkey, Kevin M. Silva, W. M. Snow, Don Sousa, T. K. Sridharan, William Stahm, A. A. Stark, John Test, K. Torstensson, Paulina Venegas, Craig Walther, Ta-Shun Wei, Christopher J. White, G. Wieching, R. Wijnands, J. G. A. Wouterloot, Chen-Yu Yu, Wei Yu, Milagros Zeballos

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Abstract

Abstract We present the first Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the Galactic center source associated with a supermassive black hole. These observations were conducted in 2017 using a global interferometric array of eight telescopes operating at a wavelength of λ = 1.3 mm. The EHT data resolve a compact emission region with intrahour variability. A variety of imaging and modeling analyses all support an image that is dominated by a bright, thick ring with a diameter of 51.8 ± 2.3 μ as (68% credible interval). The ring has modest azimuthal brightness asymmetry and a comparatively dim interior. Using a large suite of numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the EHT images of Sgr A* are consistent with the expected appearance of a Kerr black hole with mass ∼4 × 10 6 M ⊙ , which is inferred to exist at this location based on previous infrared observations of individual stellar orbits, as well as maser proper-motion studies. Our model comparisons disfavor scenarios where the black hole is viewed at high inclination ( i > 50°), as well as nonspinning black holes and those with retrograde accretion disks. Our results provide direct evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and for the first time we connect the predictions from dynamical measurements of stellar orbits on scales of 10 3 –10 5 gravitational radii to event-horizon-scale images and variability. Furthermore, a comparison with the EHT results for the supermassive black hole M87* shows consistency with the predictions of general relativity spanning over three orders of magnitude in central mass.

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Abstract We present the first Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the Galactic center source associated with a supermassive black hole. These observations were conducted in 2017 using a global interferometric array of eight telescopes operating at a wavelength of λ = 1.3 mm. The EHT data resolve a compact emission region with intrahour variability. A variety of imaging and modeling analyses all support an image that is dominated by a bright, thick ring with a diameter of 51.8 ± 2.3 μ as (68% credible interval). The ring has modest azimuthal brightness asymmetry and a comparatively dim interior. Using a large suite of numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the EHT images of Sgr A* are consistent with the expected appearance of a Kerr black hole with mass ∼4 × 10 6 M ⊙ , which is inferred to exist at this location based on previous infrared observations of individual stellar orbits, as well as maser proper-motion studies. Our model comparisons disfavor scenarios where the black hole is viewed at high inclination ( i > 50°), as well as nonspinning black holes and those with retrograde accretion disks. Our results provide direct evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and for the first time we connect the predictions from dynamical measurements of stellar orbits on scales of 10 3 –10 5 gravitational radii to event-horizon-scale images and variability. Furthermore, a comparison with the EHT results for the supermassive black hole M87* shows consistency with the predictions of general relativity spanning over three orders of magnitude in central mass.

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Available abstract

Abstract We present the first Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the Galactic center source associated with a supermassive black hole. These observations were conducted in 2017 using a global interferometric array of eight telescopes operating at a wavelength of λ = 1.3 mm. The EHT data resolve a compact emission region with intrahour variability. A variety of imaging and modeling analyses all support an image that is dominated by a bright, thick ring with a diameter of 51.8 ± 2.3 μ as (68% credible interval). The ring has modest azimuthal brightness asymmetry and a comparatively dim interior. Using a large suite of numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the EHT images of Sgr A* are consistent with the expected appearance of a Kerr black hole with mass ∼4 × 10 6 M ⊙ , which is inferred to exist at this location based on previous infrared observations of individual stellar orbits, as well as maser proper-motion studies. Our model comparisons disfavor scenarios where the black hole is viewed at high inclination ( i > 50°), as well as nonspinning black holes and those with retrograde accretion disks. Our results provide direct evidence for the presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and for the first time we connect the predictions from dynamical measurements of stellar orbits on scales of 10 3 –10 5 gravitational radii to event-horizon-scale images and variability. Furthermore, a comparison with the EHT results for the supermassive black hole M87* shows consistency with the predictions of general relativity spanning over three orders of magnitude in central mass.

Key concepts: Sagittarius A*, Supermassive black hole, Galactic Center, Milky Way, Sagittarius, Physics, Event horizon, Astronomy

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