“Once we were sure we had imaged the shadow, we could compare our observations to extensive computer models that include the physics of warped space, superheated matter and strong magnetic fields. But if heated materials in the form of plasma surround the black hole and emit light, the event horizon could be visible. In the theory, Einstein predicted that dense, compact regions of space would have such intense gravity that nothing could escape them. The visual confirmation of black holes acts as confirmation of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. “This shadow, caused by the gravitational bending and capture of light by the event horizon, reveals a lot about the nature of these fascinating objects and allowed us to measure the enormous mass of M87’s black hole.” “If immersed in a bright region, like a disc of glowing gas, we expect a black hole to create a dark region similar to a shadow – something predicted by Einstein’s general relativity that we’ve never seen before,” said Heino Falcke, chair of the EHT Science Council. van der Marel (STScI)Īstronomers have found the fastest-growing black hole ever seen, and it's got a monster appetite The imaging methods used to capture the photo reveal that the supermassive black hole has a ring-like structure and a shadow, which is represented by a dark central region.Ī computer-simulated image of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. Light bends around the gravity of the black hole, which creates the photon ring seen in the image. Material accumulates around black holes, is heated to billions of degrees and reaches nearly the speed of light. They also have a way of super-heating the material around them and warping spacetime. The telescope array collected 5,000 trillion bytes of data over two weeks, which was processed through supercomputers so that the scientists could retrieve the images.ĭetails of the observation were published in a series of six research papers published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.īlack holes are made up of huge amounts of matter squeezed into a small area, according to NASA, creating a massive gravitational field which draws in everything around it, including light. “To make sure these observations were truly simultaneous, so that we could see the same wavefront of light as it landed on each telescope, we used extremely precise atomic clocks at each of the telescopes.” “The observations were a coordinated dance in which we simultaneously pointed our telescopes in a carefully planned sequence,” said Daniel Marrone, associate professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. Stephen Hawking paper on black holes and 'soft hair' released PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 14: Scientist Stephen Hawking of "Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking" speaks via satellite during the Science Channel portion of the 2010 Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on Januin Pasadena, California. The telescopes involved in creating the global array included ALMA, APEX, the IRAM 30-meter telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano, the Submillimeter Array, the Submillimeter Telescope and the South Pole Telescope. This effectively creates a virtual telescope around the same size as the Earth itself. In their attempt to capture an image of a black hole, scientists combined the power of eight radio telescopes around the world using Very-Long-Baseline-Interferometry, according to the European Southern Observatory, which is part of the EHT. The project is named for the event horizon, the proposed boundary around a black hole that represents the point of no return where no light or radiation can escape. They have worked for more than a decade to capture this. More than 200 researchers were involved in the project. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, called EHT, is a global network of telescopes that captured the first-ever photograph of a black hole. The black hole image captured by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration.
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