Sagittarius A*

Sagittarius A* — supermassive black hole, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Sagittarius A* in an interactive 3D black hole simulation. See illustrated gravitational lensing and stars on measured orbits.

Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. This interactive view illustrates gravitational lensing and an accretion flow, alongside nearby stars with measured orbits; it is a simulation rather than live camera imagery.

Mass

4.15 million Suns

Event horizon

~24 million km across

Distance

26,670 light-years

Imaged by

Event Horizon Telescope, 2022

Closest star

S2 — dives past at 7,650 km/s

Shown here

Ray-traced light paths around a non-spinning hole of this mass

The disc

Illustrative and sped up: the real flow is hotter, thicker and far dimmer

Explore Sagittarius A* in 3D

Sagittarius A* is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.