text: Unexpected Beat in Heart of Milky Way (SPACE.com) SPACE.com - The center of our galaxy is approximately \  27,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. At \  its core, as scientist have known for some time, lies a supermassive black hole \  surrounded by millions of stars, all huddled far more closely than in the galactic \  outskirts where our Sun resides.