First Horizon-Scale Image of a Black Hole
Image Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration Explanation: What does a black hole look like? To find out, radio telescopes from around the Earth coordinated observations of black holes with the largest known event horizon s on the sky. Alone, black holes are just black , but these monster attractors are known to be surrounded by glowing gas. The first image was released yesterday and resolved the area around the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 on a scale below that expected for its event horizon . Pictured , the dark central region is not the event horizon, but rather the black hole's shadow -- the central region of emitting gas darkened by the central black hole's gravity. The size and shape of the shadow is determined by bright gas near the event horizon , by strong gravitational lensing deflections , and by the black hole's spin....