Arcade Fire perform on live-stream to unveil first image of Sagittarius A* black hole

nme.com:

Arcade Fire performed as part of a live-stream to unveil the first image of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy – watch below.The picture was produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, using observations from a worldwide network of radio telescopes.

Known as Sagittarius A*, the object is four million times the mass of the Sun.“These unprecedented observations have greatly improved our understanding of what happens at the very centre of our galaxy, and offer new insights on how these giant black holes interact with their surroundings,” said EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower.Coincidentally, ‘Sagittarius A*’ is the subtitle of a song on Arcade Fire’s new album ‘WE’ (‘End Of The Empire IV’).

It includes the lyrics: “Sagittarius A/ We’ll see one day/ What’s on the other side.”The Canadian band were invited to participate in a press conference during which the EHT presented their findings from the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Germany.Frontman Win Butler appeared on the broadcast alongside his bandmate and wife Regine Chassagne to perform stripped-back renditions of ‘End of the Empire IV (Sagittarius A*)’ and the ‘WE’ title track.“To me, it’s almost symbolic,” Butler said ahead of the performance. “There’s so much we don’t know about ourselves and our planet.“When I was reading about Sagittarius A it just spoke to me as this enormous thing at the centre of our galaxy that we don’t understand that we’re trying to understand better.”He continued: “The sense of collaboration it takes to get these images – it transcends international borders and it’s in all of humanity’s common interest.