THE MILKY WAY GALAXY III: THE CENTER

The center of the Milky Way cannot be seen in visible light because so much gas and dust blocks the light. However, infrared light passes right through the gas clouds and we can see the center clearly in infrared light.

The center of the galaxy had lots of exploded stars and a very bright spot called Sagittarius A. In this area, there lurks a black hole with a mass 3 million times that of the sun. We know this because of how fast material is orbiting the black hole. This material is confined to a small area and the math shows that the mass in the center is gigantic. It must be a black hole.