The black hole at the centre of our Milky Way is tricky to study for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it’s shrouded in a cloud of debris. Second, it’s relatively small compared to other stuff in the galaxy.

A new study in this week’s issue of Nature takes on these problems head on. Radio astronomers have seen a tiny cloud of gas swirling near the black hole. The researchers found the cloud using Very Long Baseline Interferomety (VLBI), a technique that can network radio telescopes around the world (though in this case, only US telescopes were used). The VLBI has unprecedented resolution, and the radio wavelengths it operates at allows it to see through stuff that appears opaque to the naked line.

The discovery getting a lot of media attention all over the place. We also chat with the authors on this week’s podcast.

Image: University of Arizona, T. W. Folkers