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Astrophysics, Relativity, and Cosmology Seminar - Sara Issaoun (Harvard, CfA) "Unraveling the mysteries of our Milky Way black hole Sagittarius A*"

Speaker: Sara Issaoun (Harvard, CfA)
Date: 3/11/2026
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Rhondale Tso Seminar Room, Loomis 236
Event Contact: Deanna Frye
ddebord@illinois.edu
Sponsor: Department of Physics
Event Type: Seminar/Symposium
 

In 2022 and 2024, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration revealed the first images of the shadow of our Milky Way supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), in total intensity and in polarization. Since its detection in the mid-70s, this bright radio source in the Galactic Center was shrouded in a veil of mystery. The Nobel-awarded stellar orbits research in the Galactic Center pinned down its mass and distance, showing evidence of an extremely compact 4 million-solar-mass object at the heart of our Galaxy. The EHT then provided the first direct evidence that this object is indeed a black hole and resolved its shadow for the first time. In this talk, I will explain the challenges of imaging Sgr A*, how these challenges were overcome with the EHT, and future prospects for making new discoveries about our Milky Way black hole with radio observations.