- Scientists have released fresh details on a massive black hole 53 million light-years distant, which was first observed by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2017.
- This momentous achievement offered the first visual confirmation of the existence of black holes, so proving a crucial prediction of Einstein’s general relativity theory.
Key Findings of EHT
- The new data, obtained with improved telescope coverage and resolution, supported the prior discovery of the black hole’s’shadow’.
- The results revealed the presence of an asymmetric ring structure, which is consistent with substantial gravitational lensing effects.
- Observations revealed a steady ring building process throughout time, with slight fluctuations indicating differences in the magnetic field structure.
About Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)
| Description | |
| About | A big telescope array made up of a global network of radio telescopes.Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) is used.Resolution: 25 micro-arc-seconds. |
| Collaboration | International collaboration including more than 300 participants and 60 institutions from 20 countries and areas |
| Launch Year | Initiated in 2009 |
| First Image Published | April 10, 2019 (First image of a black hole, M87*) |
| Objective | Observing objects the size of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon. |
| Key Targets | Black holes including M87* and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) |
| Recent Developments | First image of black hole (March 2021), first image of Sgr A* (May 12, 2022) |
| Reconstructive Algorithms | Includes the CLEAN algorithm and the regularised maximum likelihood (RML) algorithm |
| Scientific Implications | Verification of general relativity, measurement of black hole mass and diameter, research into accretion processes |
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/earth-wide-telescope-confirms-black-hole-shadow-is-real/article67828171.ece#:~:text=The%20EHT's%20previous%20run%20had,the%20general%20theory%20of%20relativity.