Supermassive Black Holes: Monsters at Galactic Centers

Supermassive black holes sit at the heart of most galaxies, including our Milky Way.
They contain millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun.
Our galaxy’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, is about 4 million solar masses.
Despite their size, they can be smaller than our Solar System in diameter.
Their gravity is so strong that not even light can escape once past the event horizon.
When feeding on gas and dust, they can power quasars and active galactic nuclei.
The first image of a supermassive black hole was captured in galaxy M87 in 2019.
They help shape galaxies by regulating star formation through powerful outflows and jets.
Some may have formed from the collapse of the first giant stars in the early universe.
Studying them provides clues about both galaxy evolution and the extreme laws of physics.