This was the first image that was captured of a black hole and that is how it was achieved


More than 100 years of research on the universe culminated in April 2019 with the publication of the first images of a black hole. In 1921, the German physicist Albert Einstein predicted, in his general relativity theorythe existence of places where the fabric of space-time is distorted in such a way that nothing, not even light, can escape from them.

On paper, the concept of black holes it fitted in with everything we knew about the universe. In practice, however, proving their existence directly was more complicated. In fact, all the images we’ve seen so far they were artistic recreations (based on data) of this phenomenon.

The first snapshot of a black hole comes from international consortium of the ‘Event Horizon Telescope’ (Event Horizon Telescope or EHT, for its acronym in English). This project has succeeded in coordinating the efforts of eight powerful radio telescopes (and about 200 researchers) scattered around the world to work with the ‘power’ of an Earth-sized telescope.

Antennas towards two black holes

In April 2017, for a whole week, the observatories SOUL (Chili), APEX (Chili), IRAM (Madrid. Spain), LMT (Large Millimeter Telescope, Mexico), SMT (Arizona, United States), JCMT (Hawaii, United States), SMA (Hawaii, United States), SPT (South Pole) coordinated to point their antennas at two black holes.

One of them, the one in the center of our galaxy. The other, the one in the elliptical galaxy M87. The data collected by these eight institutions has been processed and, two years later, we can already glimpse what a black hole is really like.

titanic effort

The ambitious goal has been achieved using a titanic effort. Hence, days before the publication of this image, great expectation was already created throughout the scientific community. So that we can get an idea of ​​the magnitude of this feat, the researchers propose some comparisons.

Achieving the first photographs of a black hole has been like trying to photograph from Barcelona the little holes in a Golf ball located in the greenland coast. Or, if we were to use astronomical similes, it would be like trying to photograph an orange located on the surface of the Moon from Earth. And, of course, that the final images have a sufficient resolution so that we can recognize the characteristic shape of these objects.

The protagonist of this story

All eyes are now directed to the celestial object that, thanks to the project ‘Event Horizon Telescope‘, we have been able to glimpse First time in history. It is about the black hole that is in the region M87located about 50 million light years from Earth and with 6,000 million more mass than our sun, one of the most fascinating ever discovered.

East supermassive black hole surprised the scientific community when it was revealed that emitted a powerful beam stretching for about 5,000 light-years on either side. In this case, we know that this stream of matter (or jet) could be charged particles (protons and electrons) that come from magnetic regions near the center. So it would not be correct to say that the black hole itself is emitting light, but rather that it is most likely coming from its halo.

black hole shadow

This data is now confirmed by the first photograph ever obtained. Black holes are, by definition, objects that should theoretically be impossible to photograph. If there is no light, there is no photography either. So, technically, the first photographs of black holes are not a direct portrait of these celestial bodies but a picture of his shadow.

Around these celestial bodies a large amount of matter accumulates that reaches extremely high temperatures. And this one can be photographed, showing the silhouette (or shadow) of the black hole.

scientific impact

“That’s all a milestone in the world of astrophysics“, remember Sea Mezcua Y Carlos F. Sopuertaresearchers from Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC, ICE-CSIC) experts in the nature of black holes (not involved in the EHT project). “This image demonstrates that the research we have done on the universe over the last 100 years, based largely on general relativity theory of Einstein, has gone in the correct line. And this is fantastic news in itself,” explains Mezcua.

“Now we have the definitive proof that the theoretical framework with which we have been working is the one that best adjusts to reality. We have gone from asking ourselves if the calculations that we had carried out, in which the existence of this phenomenon was already pointed out , were correct to have convincing proof of it”, adds Sopuerta.

fascination with the universe

Related news

Although it is true that this spectacular scientific breakthrough it will not have an immediate impact on our daily lives, the research community is very excited. “The study of the universe is something that, as humanity, has fascinated us for thousands of years. And if today we continue to try unravel how the universe works it is, in part, because of this desire for knowledge”, reflects Mezcua.

“It is also true that many of the advances that currently seem extremely theoretical may in a few years find a solution. practical application alternative. The laser, for example, was invented to test some points of quantum theory and is currently used even for some types of operations”, adds Sopuerta.

What is a black hole?

Black holes are one of the great mysteries of the Universe. The United States space agency, NASA, defines a black hole as a region in space where the force of gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, is able to escape. Gravity is so powerful because matter has been squeezed into tiny space.



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