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The National Science Foundation Has 'GRoundbreaking' News About the Milky Way
By MONICA J. WHITE
On May 12, 2022, The National Science Foundation (NSF) will be making a seemingly unprecedented announcement on "groundbreaking results about the center of our galaxy." Speculation abounds on what exactly the NSF will share during the event: Will it be about aliens? A potentially habitable exoplanet? Something else equally fascinating?
It could truly be anything, but right now, all signs point to new information about the supermassive blackhole at the very center of the Milky Way. Called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* for short, this blackhole is an estimated 26,000 light-years away from Earth and is staggeringly enormous — about 4.6 million times more massive than the sun!
Whether the NSF will be presenting an image of Sgr A* remains to be seen, but one of the links on its page, "https://beta.nsf.gov/blackholes," implies that the news will pertain to blackholes. Any recent black hole discovery is sure to make headlines, and the fact that Sgr A* is so close only makes it all the more exciting. May 12, 2022, promises to be a huge day for science.