A group of specialists has presented a new image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) in the center of the Milky Way. The image was taken as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, Ars Technica reports.

This project consists of a network of telescopes and combines data from several ultra-long baseline interferometry stations across the Earth. The first image of SgrA* within the TGP was taken two years ago.

The new image of the project demonstrates some features of the black hole. We are talking about the magnetic fields that revolve around SgrA* – astronomers detected them using bent light.

This image of the Event Horizon Telescope is strikingly similar to another one, which shows the black hole M87* at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 in the Virgo cluster at a distance of about 55 million light years from Earth.

The TGP team observed the object for most of 2017 and published the first image of M87* in the spring of 2019. And in 2021, experts showed an image of a black hole with magnetic fields around it.

The availability of TGP images of two black holes allows astronomers to compare them. Scientists emphasize the importance of determining how these objects are similar and how they differ.

“Since both are pointing us toward strong magnetic fields, it suggests that this may be a universal and perhaps fundamental feature of these kinds of systems,” explained at the University of Naples Federico II, in Italy.

The Event Horizon Telescope project is expected to start new observations of SgrA* next month.