{"id":446369,"date":"2022-05-13T12:58:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T09:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/remember-that-first-picture-of-a-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it\/"},"modified":"2022-05-13T12:58:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T09:58:41","slug":"remember-that-first-picture-of-a-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/remember-that-first-picture-of-a-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#Remember that first picture of a black hole in our galaxy? We took it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4060774474d\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a4060774474d\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/remember-that-first-picture-of-a-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it\/#%E2%80%9CRemember_that_first_picture_of_a_black_hole_in_our_galaxy_We_took_it%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Remember that first picture of a black hole in our galaxy? We took it&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/remember-that-first-picture-of-a-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it\/#Looking_into_darkness\" >Looking into darkness<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CRemember_that_first_picture_of_a_black_hole_in_our_galaxy_We_took_it%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Remember that first picture of a black hole in our galaxy? We took it&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                            Black holes are among the most profound predictions of Einstein\u2019s theory of <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> relativity. Originally studied as a mere mathematical consequence of the theory rather than as physically relevant objects, they soon became thought of as generic and sometimes inevitable outcomes of the gravitational collapse that initially forms a galaxy.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, most physicists have suspected that our own galaxy revolves around a supermassive black hole at its center. There are other ideas too \u2013 such as \u201cdark matter\u201d (an invisible substance thought to make up most of the matter in the universe). But now an international team of astronomers, including a team that I led from the University of Central Lancashire, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/journal\/2041-8205\/page\/Focus_on_First_Sgr_A_Results\">has unveiled the first image<\/a> of the object lurking at the center of the Milky Way \u2013 and it is a supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n<p>This means there is now overwhelming evidence for the black hole, dubbed Sagittarius A*. While it might seem a little scary to be so close to such a beast, it is in fact some 26,000 light-years away, which is reassuringly far. In fact, because the black hole is so far away from Earth, it <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ears to us to have about the same size in the sky as a donut would have on the Moon. Sagittarius A* also seems rather inactive \u2013 it is not devouring a lot of matter from its surroundings.<\/p>\n<p>Our team was part of the global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, which has used observations from a worldwide network of eight radio telescopes on our planet \u2013 collectively forming a single, Earth-sized virtual telescope \u2013 to take the stunning image. The breakthrough follows the collaboration\u2019s 2019 release of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/first-black-hole-photo-confirms-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-115167\">the first-ever image of a black hole<\/a>, called M87*, at the center of the more distant <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/goddard\/2017\/messier-87\">Messier 87 galaxy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Looking_into_darkness\"><\/span>Looking into darkness<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The team observed Sagittarius A* on multiple nights, collecting data for many hours in a row, similar to using a long exposure time on a camera. Although we cannot see the black hole itself, because it is completely dark, glowing gas around it reveals a tell-tale signature: a dark central region (called a \u201cshadow\u201d) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun. The discovery also yields valuable clues about the workings of black holes, which are thought to reside at the center of most galaxies.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \">\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" alt=\"Image of ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><figcaption><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"#\" data-url=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Feditorial.thenextweb.com%2Fspace%2F2022%2F05%2F13%2Ffirst-picture-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it%2F&amp;via=thenextweb&amp;related=thenextweb&amp;text=Check out this picture on: ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes. Image: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA\" data-title=\"Share ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes. Image: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA on Twitter\" data-width=\"685\" data-height=\"500\" class=\"post-image-share popitup\" title=\"Share ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes. Image: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA on Twitter\"><i class=\"icon icon--inline icon--twitter--dark\"\/><\/a>ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes. Image: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA<\/figcaption><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" alt=\"Image of ALMA \u2013 one of the Event Horizon telescopes.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/462859\/original\/file-20220512-5542-4lmhll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure><figcaption\/><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The surprising thing about this image is that it looks so similar to the image of M87* we published three years ago \u2013 this certainly came as a surprise. The reason for the similarity is that while the M87* black hole is about 1,000 times bigger, the Sagittarius black hole is about 100 times closer. Both of them obey Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity, showing Einstein was right for a factor of 1,000 in size scale. To a physicist this is important. Relativity has been around for a century and it is still proving to be accurate. I think even Einstein himself might have been surprised by that!<\/p>\n<p>The publication of the picture of the Sagittarius A* black hole is a tremendously exciting achievement by the collaboration. When I first saw the image, I thought: this tells us a lot. I couldn\u2019t wait to start writing about it and interpreting the image. We had a lot of meetings to come to a consensus of what it tells us. To begin with, we were meeting face to face in different parts of the world. Then COVID struck and suddenly nobody could go anywhere. So online meetings became the norm, as in every other aspect of life. This definitely slowed us down.<\/p>\n<p>My role was to help write two of the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/journal\/2041-8205\/page\/Focus_on_First_Sgr_A_Results\">six papers<\/a> that have been released in the Astrophysical Journal Letters: the first one, introducing the observation; and the third one, in which we discuss how we made a picture out of the observations, and how reliable that image is.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, I was a \u201ccontributing author\u201d for all six papers. This is an administrative role, in which I handled all correspondence between our team of over 300 astronomers and the academic journal that published our findings. This had its challenges, as I had to deal with every typo and every mistake in the typesetting.<\/p>\n<p>I also had to channel comments from my colleagues. Since the majority of the collaborators are based in either the US or East Asia, it meant that they were working during the night in UK time. Hence, each morning I would come to work to find about 100 overnight emails from colleagues \u2013 a daunting start to any day.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, we got there in the end \u2013 and the dazzling result was worth all of the work.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/183010\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\"\/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/183010\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em>This article by <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/derek-ward-thompson-1345403\">Derek Ward-Thompson<\/a>, Professor of Astrophysics, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/university-of-central-lancashire-1272\">University of Central Lancashire, <\/a>is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-we-captured-first-image-of-the-supermassive-black-hole-at-centre-of-the-milky-way-183010\">original article<\/a>.<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/first-picture-black-hole-in-our-galaxy-we-took-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Remember that first picture of a black hole in our galaxy? We took it&#8221; Black holes are among the most profound predictions of Einstein\u2019s theory of general relativity. Originally studied as a mere mathematical consequence of the theory rather than as physically relevant objects, they soon became thought of as generic and sometimes inevitable outcomes&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2022\/05\/black-hole.jpeg&signature=32df5fbd7ebf66e52b443a1b9cedb27c","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-446369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}