(ORDO NEWS) — At the very center of our galaxy is a supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A. It has a mass that is 4 million times that of the Sun. A new study by specialists has shown that the Earth is actually two thousand light-years closer to the black hole than previously thought. Of course, it is too early to say that our planet will collide with a black hole. The distance has changed due to the fact that scientists have created a new model of the Milky Way, which is more accurate. New data was used to create the model.
The Japanese radio astronomy project VERA has been collecting new data for 15 years. The method is called interferometry. Data was collected from all telescopes in Japan. Then they were connected with data from other projects. Due to this, it was possible to create the most accurate map of our galaxy.
Then experts determined the location and speed of about 99 points in the Milky Way. Having made the conclusions, VERA announced that the distance from our planet to the black hole Sagittarius A is 25.8 thousand light years. This is two thousand light years less than scientists previously thought.
The new model also showed that the Earth is moving slightly faster than anticipated. Previously, scientists believed that the Earth around the center of the Milky Way moves at a speed of 220 kilometers per second. If we take into account the performance of the new model, then the speed reaches 227 kilometers per second.
At the moment, the project is engaged in increasing the number of points in the Milky Way that are being monitored. This will further increase the accuracy of the now created model.
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