[bagman]

Isn’t the Earth’s orbital velocity 18,000 mph and the escape velocity more like 24,000 mph.

I believe that the Sagittitarius A black hole is 26,000 light years away, not a mere 26 light years.

[ETL]

Isn’t the Earth’s orbital velocity 18,000 mph and the escape velocity more like 24,000 mph.

yes, you correct. Sorry about that.

[ETL]

I believe that the Sagittitarius A black hole is 26,000 light years away, not a mere 26 light years.

Who said 'mere' 26 light years away.

I wrote:

It lies roughly 26 light years (26 x 5.9 trillion miles = 153 trillion miles) away and is approximately 4 MILLION times as massive as the Sun. The entire galaxy revolves around this object.

In any case, given that our galaxy is some 100,000 light years from end to end, 'mere' might not be a bad way to put it.

[ETL]

Oops! Sorry again! I guess not enough caffeine yet today. Of course it’s 26 THOUSAND light years away.

[poconopundit]

The astronomers tell us relatively with high precision that the black hole is 100,000 times the size of our Sun. Yet that is located about 25,000 light years away.

I did a little calculate and found that 100,000 times the diameter of our Sun is 86 billion miles.

Well, at the speed of light, it would take a mere 5 Earth days for light to cross that diameter.

So my question is: why isn't the diameter of this black hole known with greater accuracy?

If the distance away is give-or-take a few hundred light years (5.9 trillion miles each), how can they tell us so precisely that the diameter of this black hole is 86 billion, give-or-take a few billion years?