Posted on by Mr. B

Astronomers Share the First Ever Image of a Black Hole

The image matches so close to the predictions.

Astronomers Share the First Ever Image of a Black Hole
The first ever photo of a black hole. Photo: Event Horizon Telescope

 

Most of us are so used to living in the fictional world and engrossed in stories like the Umbrella Academy or Avengers: Endgame that we are often untouched by real-life miracles achieved by the brainy scientists and astronomers. One such miracle has recently occurred as astronomers from different parts of the world have united in clicking the first-ever image of a black hole. It’s more fascinating, confounding and powerful than you think.

 

Why It’s a Big Deal?

Many people are wondering why the first ever image of a black hole is a big deal. The answer is simple. Observation of black holes is a giant challenge because their gravitational pull is too high. Even light cannot escape once it crosses the event horizon. Astronomers have accepted and completed this challenge by working for decades on technical advances and theoretical predictions.

 

What’s in It?

If you look at the image of the black hole carefully, you’ll see that there is a bright ring in the image. It is caused by the strong pull exerted by the black hole on the nearby matter. You also see a swirling disc of gas which emits bright radio waves. People also wonder why one side is brighter than the other. There’s a simple explanation for that. The brighter side is coming towards us while the whole thing spins.

 

Who’s Behind it?

The black hole image you see wasn’t captured in a day. It is the result of an initiative that began around seven years ago. The initiative aimed to observe the environment of a black hole directly. Several telescopes were used for the project, and one of the dishes was the size of a planet. It’s known as the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, and it is situated on top of Mauna Kea peak in Hawaii. 

Making sure that the telescope network spread across the world was in sync for capturing the image of the black hole has been a challenge as well. All the operators had to look at the same thing at the same time. For that, they have to know the timing of all the signals at each of these telescopes to a billionth of a second.