However, in a recent blog post I included a video of stars orbiting the supermassive black hole at our galactic center (not Hollywood effects; this is real data, of real stars orbiting our neighborhood supermassive black hole). you tubeThe movie comes from Andrea Ghez’s group at UCLA; I put it up on YouTube so I could trivially embed it in the post. Within 24 hours, the video had received over 50,000 views. I find this number staggering, and immensely encouraging.

The secret of the popularity of that video, and the others created using the data collected on the orbits of the stars at the very center of the Milky Way, is the sheer dynamism on display. For all the wonders in the night sky revealed by our huge array of telescopes, almost everything we see appears to be frozen in time to our eyes.

Sure the motions of the planets, comets, and asteroids can fascinate but beyond the bounds of our own solar system, everything except the odd flare of a nova or supernova happens so slowly that a lifetime can pass before we notice the changes.

Of course, tossing in the fact that there’s a black hole in there somewhere doesn’t hurt either.

I missed that video when you first posted it, though I’ve seen the black-and-white version before. I almost wept the first time I saw it. For some reason I remember being told early on that there was too much dust towards the center of the galaxy for us to ever observe it from Earth, so I would fantasize about a far, far, FAR distant time when we could actually visit and see what’s going on there for the first time. Little did I know I’d get to see it in my lifetime! Beyond extraordinary.