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Scientists have further sharpened the image of the M87 black hole, and we show the final result.
Black holes are among the most interesting and best-researched creatures in the universe. Their existence is well established both at a theoretical level (general relativity) and through astronomical observations (e.g. Chandra Space Telescope). Although there are still many question marks around them, we know for sure that they are objects from which nothing, not even light, can escape due to the strong gravity.
The world’s first photo of a black hole was presented by scientists in 2019 as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. The historic image showed the black hole at the center of the giant galaxy Messier 87 in the constellation Virgo. The EHT team has now further sharpened the image of the black hole in question, with the difference that this time they used a different data set that was taken with a telescope in Greenland in 2018 – the image published in 2019 was based on a data set from 2017.
The result was a sharper and brighter photo, clearly showing the Doppler phenomenon that makes the black hole appear brighter on one side.
(Photo: EHT Collaboration)
Although it is a major advance from a scientific perspective, the photo of the black hole is still quite dim to the layman, which is not surprising since the galaxy M87 is about 55 million light-years from Earth.
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