First black hole image. On April 10th scientists announced they had captured the image of a black hole in a galaxy, Messier 87, about 53 million light-years away. Astronomers detected the event horizon around the black hole. This is where matter is being torn apart so violently that the particles are creating x-rays as they enter the black hole.
“We have seen what we thought was unseeable,” said Sheperd Doeleman, director of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. “We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole.”
The consortium of over 200 scientists used eight telescopes scattered all over the world to create a gigantic telescope the diameter of the Earth connected via the internet. It took over a decade to build the system and then a four-day period of clear weather for the data collection and processing to produce this historic picture.
Team member Katie Bouman said it was like capturing an image of an orange on the surface of the Moon from the Earth.
Black holes are objects so dense that even light can’t escape from them. The black hole in M87 is estimated to have a mass of over 6 billion times that of the sun.
Watch cool video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19to087TYv8
Morning sky: Jupiter rises around midnight early in the month but around 10 pm by the end of the month. About two hours later Saturn rises. Bright Venus rises about an hour before the Sun but is slowly getting closer to the Sun’s glare.
Evening sky: Mars is fading in the southwest and sets around 10 pm. Mercury might be visible below Mars at the end of the month, but you’ll need a clear view of the west.
2nd: Thin crescent Moon lower right of Venus in late morning sky.
4th: Tallahassee Astronomical Society’s free ($1 donation requested) planetarium show at the Downtown Digital Dome Theatre and Planetarium at the Challenger Learning Center (not recommended for children under 5). Doors close at 10 am sharp so get there by 9:45 am. Seating is limited. “May Skies over Tallahassee” will be repeated at 11:00 am for a reduced planetarium price of $3.00 for children or adults and free for Challenger members.
6th: Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Thin crescent Moon above bright star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull.
7th: Thin crescent Moon to left of Mars.
10th: Join TAS at Cascades Park near the DOT parking lot to see the Moon in front of Beehive star cluster in Cancer the Crab! Begins at 7:30 pm and runs through 9 pm.
11th: Moon to right of bright star Regulus in Leo the Lion.
12th: Moon to left of bright star Regulus in Leo the Lion.
15th: Moon above bright star Spica in Virgo the Virgin.
19th: Mars near M35 star cluster.
20th: TAS monthly meeting at the Challenger Learning Center begins at 6:30 pm.
20th – 21st: Moon to the right of Jupiter.
22nd: Moon to the right of Saturn.
23rd: Moon to the left of Saturn.
Check out TAS’s events calendar at www.stargazers.org