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| Stars near the galactic centre are believed to be orbiting a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) (from Gillessen et al., The Astrophysical Journal, 692:1075–1109, 2009) |
Based on observations made between 1992 and 2008, a group led by Reinhart Genzel in Germany have found the best evidence yet that there is a supermassive black hole lurking at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. By watching the movement of 28 individual stars, it is possible to see that they share a common point around which they all orbit. But perhaps most interestingly, one such star (so called 'S2') was observed to complete a full orbit around the central point - the first time such an event has ever been recorded. From the speed and shape of the orbit of this star (and the others), it was determined that the central point must be relatively small, but with a mass equivalent to around 4 million times that of the Sun.
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