![]() The circle-predicted by theorists in justifying development of the EHT-is actually a shadow cast by the black hole against the luminous, ring-like structure of cosmic gas and dust spiraling around and into the hole. The representation conveys a dark circle surrounded by a bright disk. The image obtained by the EHT bolsters this scientific consensus about the nature of black holes. ![]() See also: Light Mass Matter (physics) Spacetime Star Such a concentration of mass generates gravity strong enough to create an event horizon-a boundary in space from within which even light cannot escape, thus giving black holes their name. Formed from the collapse of massive stars' cores and other vast collections of matter, black holes pack staggering amounts of mass into small volumes. Thanks to this ground-breaking project, we have now reached the boundary between the universe and what lies within a black hole.An original prediction of general relativity, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 1915, black holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. We see their effect rather than the objects themselves. Our observations of these objects have almost exclusively been indirect, creating simulations and models. We still don't know what’s inside a black hole, however, and so far we have very little certainty about what surrounds them. The details of these findings have been published in multiple papers in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The observation of the black hole is an incredible feat, but it is also a crucial test for Einstein's theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, and certain astrophysical theories. "This makes us confident about the interpretation of our observations, including our estimation of the black hole’s mass." Simulation of the black hole at the heart of M87. Ho, EHT Board member and Director of the East Asian Observatory. Many of the features of the observed image match our theoretical understanding surprisingly well," said Paul T.P. "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. ![]() The shadow it casts, captured by the EHT is 2.5 times larger. It has a mass 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun and stretches for 40 billion kilometers. M87 is an elliptical galaxy 54 million light-years away, and its supermassive black hole is much larger than the one at the center of our own galaxy. "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 has 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," explained chair of the EHT Science Council Heino Falcke of Radboud University, the Netherlands in a statement. Combined, they have the power of a single telescope the size of Earth, the only approach that would allow them to gather enough data to see M87 like this. The EHT's telescopes are spread all over the world, from Chile and Spain to Hawaii and Mexico, all the way down to the South Pole. The further apart the telescopes are, the more precise the images. If you simultaneously use two telescopes that are far apart, you can combine the observations in an incredible way. ![]() The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) consortium was able to achieve this incredible feat using a phenomenon called interferometry. ![]()
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