Astronomers Are About to Make a Massive Announcement About Something in The Milky Way

[Judi Lynn]

Carly Cassella - Yesterday 7:34 PM

Update (12 May 2022): The big day of the announcement is today! Make sure to check back to ScienceAlert's home page for a live blog of the press conference at roughly 08:40 am EDT, or 12:40 UTC. Read below on what we think we can expect.


Original (29 April 2022): In two weeks' time, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is going to present the world with new information about our Milky Way.

It's anyone's guess what the announcement will be, but based on what we know of their recent efforts, there's reason to get excited – the results being presented are from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, which was responsible for producing the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019.

For years now the EHT project has been studying the heart of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, which is most likely home to a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A*.

Whatever they've found out, they're making a big deal out of it.
A conference will be streamed about the findings online on 12 May 2022 at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC, 9:00 EST), followed by a YouTube event with six astronomers from around the world. Press releases will include "extensive supporting audiovisual material" (eek!).

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/astronomers-are-about-to-make-a-massive-announcement-about-something-in-the-milky-way/ar-AAWIsLy

[Trueblue1968]

1. they found another earth

[capechacon]

4. Nah....can't be...

....that movie "Another Earth&quot came out a few years ago. They musta' missed it first time around..

[ret5hd]

2. Don't look up.

[vercetti2021]

3. We're gonna be engulfed?

And die?

[Demnation]

5. My money is on little green men.

[quickesst]

6. I'm going with

.... the announcement of the possibility there might be a planet or planets capable of supporting life.
Either that, or they're going to tell us we can all bend over and kiss our ass goodbye.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Watch the Event Horizon Telescope's 'groundbreaking' Milky Way discovery online today

By Stefanie Waldek published about 1 hour ago

The last time EHT teased us like this, the observatory debuted the first-ever image of a black hole.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has spotted something incredible in the Milky Way galaxy — something its team is calling "groundbreaking." But what exactly that discovery is, we won't find out until Thursday (May 12).

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team has teased the discovery online, but the full announcement will come during a set of news conferences at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) hosted by institutions around the world. The Milky Way discovery events will also be streamed online for public viewing. Following the press conferences, both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will host independent Q&A panels that will also be broadcast online.

The EHT is a network of radio telescopes around the world that studies, primarily, black holes. In 2019, the EHT similarly teased a new discovery that turned out to be the first-ever image of a black hole. Regardless of what the discovery is, it's sure to be riveting. Below are the details for live webcasts that will stream the EHT announcements, as well as the subsequent Q&A sessions.

The NSF will host its press conference in Washington, D.C., with live video broadcast online on the NSF website and the foundation's Facebook page.

More:
https://www.space.com/event-horizon-telescope-milky-way-discovery-webcasts

[Backseat Driver]

8. I watched...they took a pic of the Saggitarius black hole at

the center of our Milky Way with great result...so now they can compare, contrast, and try out new and/or other measurements alongside the first/previous pic of a different black hole named ? (oops, forgot). They were very excited about scientists' coordination of this much better photo...Me -- trekking the universe is pretty cool; I'm rather looking forward to teleporting -- so...live long and prosper--you know the gesture!!!

[Judi Lynn]

9. They did seem completely energized, didn't they? Interesting seeing their very real enthusiasm!