Viewing The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole

Sagittarius A*

In the center of the Milky Way there is a very bright, compact radio source. Found near the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius in the night sky, Sagittarius A*(Sgr A*) is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole similar to those observed to exist at the center of other galaxies.

Due to dust and gas, astronomers have been unable to observe Sgr A* in the optical spectrum. Attempts have been made to view it using radio telescopes.

Event Horizon Telescope

The Event Horizon Telescope is a project to create a large millimeter telescope array combining data from radio telescope stations from around the Earth using very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) to observe the immediate environment of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole Sgr A* with angular resolution comparable to the event horizon.

The group will combine existing and planned millimeter/submillimeter facilities into a high-sensitivity, high angular resolution Event Horizon Telescope. The effort will include development and deployment of submillimeter dual polarization receivers, highly stable frequency standards to enable VLBI at 230-450 GHz, higher-bandwidth VLBI backends and recorders, as well as commissioning of new submillimeter VLBI sites.

New York Times Video on the Event Horizon Telescope

Here is an excellent video discussing the Event Horizon Telescope and it's mission to observe Sgr A*

NYT Video