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Black hole pictured for first time — in spectacular detail

The Event Horizon Telescope’s global network of radio dishes has produced the first-ever direct image of a black hole and its event horizon.
  1. Davide Castelvecchi
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First image of a black hole, using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the center of the galaxy M87.

The Event Horizon Telescope network has obtained the first image of a black hole — at the centre of the galaxy M87. Credit: EHT Collaboration

Astronomers have finally glimpsed the blackness of a black hole. By stringing together a global network of radio telescopes, they have for the first time produced a picture of an event horizon — a black hole’s perilous edge — against a backdrop of swirling light.

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Nature 568, 284-285 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01155-0

Additional reporting by Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and Nisha Gaind.

References

  1. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 875, L1 (2019).

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  2. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 875, L2 (2019).

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  3. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 875, L3 (2019).

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  5. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. 875, L5 (2019).

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