LifeStyle Features

Event Horizon Telescope's first-ever image of black hole ignites imagination of scientists and Twittersphere

by Charlie Smith on April 10th, 2019 at 7:55 AM
    1 of 2 2 of 2

      The first black hole ever photographed has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.

      It's also 55 million light years from Earth.

      And the image came as a result of a large-scale collaboration of more than 200 researchers relying on eight ground-based radio telescopes.

      Each one of these devices had to face the black hole at the same time to obtain the image.

      According to the scientists, it's in the centre of a galaxy called Messier 87.

      Black holes have such a powerful gravitational pull that they can suck in all forms of matter, including stars, so that they can't escape.

      Scientists also say that black holes aemit no light, which is why the first picture only shows what's outside on the perimeter.

      The recent Event Horizon Telescope breakthrough has been reported in six papers published in The Astrophysicial Journal Letters.

      This 17-minute video reveals the role of various scientists, including Albert Einstein, in the many years leading up to the photograph of a black hole.

      Naturally, a discovery like this has generated excitement over social media—as well as some humour.

      You can see some of what's being said below:

      Comments