At simultaneous press conferences around the world, including at Mexico’s Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT), astronomers have unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our own Milky Way galaxy. This result provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants, which are thought to reside at the centre of most galaxies. The image was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.

A pair of interacting stars is surrounded by a nebula that is so peculiar that it resembles an active galaxy hosting a supermassive black hole when observed in X rays, but smaller. The double star, called R Aquarii, was studied by an international team of astronomers led by Dr. Jesús Toala from the Institute of Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Autonomous University of Mexico (IRyA, UNAM).

Dr. Gustavo Bruzual and Dr. Susana Lizano ware named National Emeritus Researchers within the National System of Researchers (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, SNI).

“It is worth fighting without giving up”, said Dr. Aina Palau Puigvert of the Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica (IRyA), or Institute of Radioastronomy and Astrophysics, at UNAM, Campus Morelia, upon receiving the “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” Recognition on March 8th, 2022.

The Instituto de Radioastronomía y Astrofísica (IRyA), or Institute for Radioastronomy and Astrophysics, at UNAM Campus Morelia, invites people to attend its public talks cycle Viernes de Astronomía, or Astronomy Fridays. In this cycle, IRyA’s researchers will share talks in Spanish directed to the general public about diverse astronomy topics.