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AstroKids › Everything in the sky › Sagittarius A*
supermassive black hole · center of the Milky Way

Sagittarius A*

A giant black hole at the very centre of our galaxy — as heavy as millions of Suns!

Also called: the black hole at the centre of the milky way.

🚀 Travel there
Sagittarius A* — Drawn, not photographed.

What it is

Supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, ~4.3 million solar masses.

Supermassive black hole: Millions of Suns' worth, sitting in a galaxy's heart. Every kind of thing there is →

Can you see it?

No. No telescope on Earth will show you this one; it is here to be understood, not seen. It is here because it is worth knowing about — and because leaving it out would make the sky look emptier than it is.

Worth knowing about Sagittarius A*

In weight, ~4.3 million times the Sun's mass. On the 100-meter-track scale model of the Milky Way, the galaxy's central black hole would be about 26 metres from the Sun -- the length of a 25-metre swimming pool. Light takes 26 thousand years to get here from Sagittarius A*, so what you are looking at is Sagittarius A* as it was 26 thousand years ago.

What makes it worth knowing
Anchors the gravity of the entire galaxy; a real-world lab for testing general relativity.
Its name and its story
Sits toward Sagittarius the Archer, often depicted as a centaur -- tying it to Greek myths of centaurs like Chiron.
The numbers
Distance from us26,000 light-years

Next to it

The Milky Wayspiral galaxyNaked eyeProxima CentauristarWith effortAlpha Centauri A & Bbinary star systemNaked eyeSiriusstarNaked eyeVegastarNaked eyeArcturusstarNaked eye

Then go outside

Not this one. But the sky over your head is full of ones you can see, and the Planetarium knows which.

🌙 Plan an evening outside🌌 Everything else in the sky