The European Southern Observatory ( ESO ) has announced the solution of a26 - class - long observation campaignto test Einstein ’s theory of universal relativity around one of the most extreme objects in the universe : the supermassive opprobrious hole at the center field of the Milky Way .
This incredible target , known as Sagittarius A * , weighs over 4 million time the heap of our Sun and produces the strong gravitational field in the wandflower . Within this field , a modest group of stars reach at gamy speed and by tracking these stars researchers were capable to put theories of somberness to the examination . Einstein ’s pass with flying colors .
As reported in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics , the researchers capitalize on several technical improvements to the instruments available to the Very Large Telescope , such as GRAVITY , SINFONI , and NACO . These were able to track the stars in exquisite detail . In exceptional , they followed the ace S2 , an object that gets closer than 20 billion kilometers ( 12.4 billion miles ) from Sagittarius A * .
“ This is the second time that we have observed the snug passage of S2 around the black hole in our galactic heart , " squad leader Reinhard Genzel , of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , said in astatement . " But this prison term , because of much improved instrumentation , we were capable to observe the principal with unprecedented solution . We have been ready intensely for this upshot over several eld , as we wanted to make the most of this unique chance to observe cosmopolitan relativistic effect . ”
The squad witness something call gravitative redshift . The gravitational field around the dim hole is so firm that it unfold the wavelengths of the light allow the sensation , make up it redder . This effect is not predicted in Newton ’s hypothesis of soberness but it agree precisely with the value expected in Einstein ’s theory of relativity theory .
“ Here in the Solar System we can only test the jurisprudence of physics now and under sure circumstances . So it ’s very authoritative in astronomy to also check that those laws are still valid where the gravitative fields are very much stronger , ” explicate Françoise Delplancke , question of the System Engineering Department at ESO .
While this is a bully success for the external coaction , it does not nock the end of this projection . The squad will continue to observe S2 and the other stars around Sagittarius A * . They should confirm another relativistic effect before long . The gravitative landing field should cause the reach of S2 to rotate a little , something called theSchwarzschild precession , as S2 moves further away from the black hole .
