An international collaboration of scientists who are with the Event Horizon Telescope, an Earth size telescope that are set at array sites around the globe has a goal of capturing the first direct images of a black hole. The images will be reported on shipment of hard drives from the South Pole they are now busily analyzing the data from these drives which is expected to be a key component in giving us the first ever direct image of a black hole sometime in 2018.
Astronomers with the event horizon telescope aren’t aiming to capture the nothingness of a black hole itself, that’s not possible, but instead the black hole’s event horizon, the sphere like point of no return surrounding a black hole. They’ve chose a they have chosen eights Pacific blackhole which is Sagittarius A*, a 4 million solar mass black hole located at the center of our home galaxy, a Milky Way supermassive black hole that is about 27,000 light years from Earth.
A secondary target will be much further away, some 50 to 60 million light years from Earth. It’s a massive black hole at the center of M 87, the largest galaxy in the Virgo cluster. The question is, “how can it appear so big to us at such a great distance away?” It is over six million solar masses. This black hole is so big you can swallow our whole solar system!
Consensus: Scientists hope to produce a first direct image of a black hole sometime this year.
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Rod is a blogger, writer, filmmaker, photographer, daydreamer who likes to cook. Rod produces and directs the web series, CUPIC: Diary of an Investigator. He is also the editor, producer and administrator of TNC Network.