Earth 16,000 MPH Faster, 2000 Light-Years Closer to Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way - SciTechDaily

Position and velocity map of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Arrows show position and velocity data for the 224 objects used to model the Milky Way Galaxy.

Earth just got 7 km/s (~16,000 mph) faster and about 2000 light-years closer to the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that our planet is plunging towards the black hole.

Instead, the changes are results of a better model of the Milky Way Galaxy based on new observation data, including a catalog of objects observed over the course of more than 15 years by the Japanese radio astronomy project VERA.

VERA uses a technique known as interferometry to combine data from radio telescopes scattered across the Japanese archipelago in order to achieve the same resolution as a 2300 km diameter telescope would have.

Astrometry, accurate measurement of the positions and motions of objects, is a vital tool to understand the overall structure of the Galaxy and our place in it.

This year, the First VERA Astrometry Catalog was published containing data for 99 objects.

Based on the VERA Astrometry Catalog and recent observations by other groups, astronomers constructed a position and velocity map.

The map suggests that the center of the Galaxy, and the supermassive black hole which resides there, is located 25800 light-years from Earth.

Now VERA hopes to observe more objects, particularly ones close to the central supermassive black hole, to better characterizes the structure and motion of the Galaxy.

“The First VERA Astrometry Catalog” by VERA collaboration et al.

November 25, 2020

November 25, 2020