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# Galactic Centre

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The Galactic Centre, as seen by one of the 2MASS infrared telescopes, is in the bright upper left portion of the image
The crowded centre of the Milky Way

The Galactic Centre (or Galactic Center) is the rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy.

It is a supermassive black hole of 4.100 ± 0.034 million solar masses. It powers the compact radio source Sagittarius A*.[1][2][3][4]

It is 8.2 ± 0.4 kiloparsecs (26,700 ± 1,300 ly) away from Earth[5] in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius where the Milky Way appears brightest.

## References

1. "Scientists find proof a black hole is lurking at the centre of our galaxy" (in en-GB). Metro. 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
2. Plait, Phil (2018-11-08). "Astronomers see material orbiting a black hole *right* at the edge of forever" (in English). Syfy Wire. Archived from the original on 10 November 2018.
3. Henderson, Mark (2009-12-09). Astronomers confirm black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
4. Gillessen, S.; Eisenhauer, F.; Fritz, T.K.; Pfuhl, O.; Genzel, R. (2013). "The distance to the Galactic Center". Advancing the Physics of Cosmic Distances, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, Volume 289 8: 29–35. .