There is a supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way, that is spinning so fast, it’s dragging everything around the black hole along for the ride and altering the fabric of space-time around the black hole!

The black hole is called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* for short. NASA describes a black hole as a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. Because no light can escape, black holes are invisible to people. However, there are special tools that can see how stars next to black holes act, which is different than how other stars act.

While scientists have been studying the skies and theorizing about the world around us for hundreds of years, black holes were only discovered when the first one was identified in 1964. They vary widely in size, and the largest black holes are called “supermassive.” These black holes have masses that are more than 1 million suns together. NASA says that scientists have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center.

A team of physicists were able to use the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to observe Sagittarius A*. They looked for the radio waves and X-ray emissions in the material and gases surrounding the black hole. Sgr A* is located about 27,000 light-years away, so that is one powerful telescope.

The spin speed of a black hole can be calculated and given a value from 0 to 1, with 1 being the maximum rotational speed to a particular black hole. Scientists discovered that the rotational speed of Sgr A* is between 0.84 and 0.96, meaning the black hole is spinning near its maximum speed.

The good news is that the black hole and its rotation pose no threat to us here on Earth. Plus, the physicists say the information that they have learned will help scientists understand the black hole’s history and the role that black holes have in galaxy formation and evolution.