The "rose dance" of supermassive black holes and surrounding stars once again proves that Einstein's theory of general relativity is correct
The Very Large Telescope revealed for the first time that the trajectories of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole in the central Milky Way were nearly identical to the predictions of Einstein's general theory of relativity, proving once again that Einstein was right. Image source: Space Network USA
According to the US Space Network reported on the 16th, after nearly 30 years of research, European scientists have found for the first time that the trajectory of the rotating star around the central supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* in the Milky Way galaxy is accurately consistent with the prediction of Einstein's general relativity, which once again verifies the correctness of general relativity.
Research collaborator Reinhard Genzel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, said in a statement: "General relativity predicts that the bound orbit of an object rotating around another object will not be elliptical as Predicted by Newtonian mechanics, but like a rosette. Scientists have observed this effect for the first time in Mercury's orbit around the Sun — the first evidence to support general relativity. ”
Genzel added: "A hundred years later, we are seeing the same effect for the first time on a star orbiting Sagittarius A*, an observational breakthrough that further reinforces the evidence that Sagittarius A* is a supermassive black hole with a 4 million times the mass of the Sun." ”
The team used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile to track a star called S2, which orbits Sagittarius A*, which is about 26,000 light-years from Earth. Over 27 years, astronomers used VLT's multiple instruments to make 330 measurements of the position and speed of the S2.
Given that S2 takes 16 Earth years to rotate around Sagittarius A*, such a long observation period is essential, the researchers said. Observations suggest that the trajectory of S2 is in perfect agreement with the predictions of general relativity, and further observations may lead to more discoveries.
"Since S2's measurements are consistent with the predictions of general relativity, we can strictly limit the amount of invisible matter (such as dark matter or possible smaller black holes) around Sagittarius A*, which is important for understanding the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes," the researchers explain. ”
The researchers say further observations could lead to more new discoveries about black holes. For example, giant telescopes about to lift off, such as ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), could allow astronomers to track stars closer to Sagittarius A* than S2.
German scientist Andreas Ekat added: "We may capture stars that are close enough to the black hole to feel the black hole rotating, again at completely different scales to test general relativity." ”
