A new study suggests that the object imaged as a black hole in the center of the Milky Way may not be a black hole after all, but rather a different structure mimicking its effects.
In 2022, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released the first direct image of the shadow of a massive object at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A*. This image was widely accepted as definitive proof of a supermassive black hole, estimated to be around 4.6 million times the mass of the Sun. However, a recent study has reopened this debate, posing an alternative scientific theory that calls into question whether what we observed is indeed a black hole in the precise physical sense.
The new hypothesis proposes that the central object might instead be a highly dense core made up of hypothetical fermionic particles associated with dark matter. These virtual particles, if incredibly lightweight and accumulated at high densities, could generate a gravitational field similar to that typically attributed to a black hole. Remarkably, this model produces nearly the same observed mass and potentially explains the motion of surrounding stars, further complicating our understanding of the Milky Way's center.
As scientists continue to explore this theory, the implications could be profound, potentially reshaping our understanding of cosmic structures and the nature of black holes. It emphasizes the continuing need for rigorous scientific investigation and challenges the certainty with which we often accept groundbreaking astronomical findings. Further research will be necessary to ascertain the validity of this new perspective and what it might mean for our comprehension of the universe's architecture.
