COSMIC CHAOS
Supermassive black hole 55million light-years from Earth shown in highest ever resolution pic & there could be more soon
For the first time, scientists have been able to see multi-colour views of a supermassive blackhole.
A SUPERMASSIVE black hole some 55million light-years from Earth has been captured in the finest detail yet by scientists.
Researchers have used the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to achieve the highest resolution image of a black hole ever taken from the surface of Earth.
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For the first time, scientists have been able to see multi-colour views of a supermassive blackhole.
Previous images, published in 2019, have shown the cosmic object to be a glowing orange ring - dubbed the Eye of Sauron.
But new pictures, published today by scientists from the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), show the beast glowing turquoise and red.
Scientists overlaid recent photos with the older snaps to create images that are in 50 per cent finer detail than before.
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”To understand why this is a breakthrough, consider the burst of extra detail you get when going from black and white photos to color,” paper co-lead Sheperd Doeleman explained.
“This new ‘color vision’ allows us to tease apart the effects of Einstein’s gravity from the hot gas and magnetic fields that feed the black holes and launch powerful jets that stream over galactic distances."
What is a black hole? The key facts
Here's what you need to know...
- A black hole is a region of space where absolutely nothing can escape
- That’s because they have extremely strong gravitational effects, which means once something goes into a black hole, it can’t come back out
- They get their name because even light can’t escape once it’s been sucked in – which is why a black hole is completely dark
What is an event horizon?
- There has to be a point at which you’re so close to a black hole you can’t escape
- Otherwise, literally everything in the universe would have been sucked into one
- The point at which you can no longer escape from a black hole’s gravitational pull is called the event horizon
- The event horizon varies between different black holes, depending on their mass and size
What is a singularity?
- The gravitational singularity is the very centre of a black hole
- It’s a one-dimensional point that contains an incredibly large mass in an infinitely small space
- At the singularity, space-time curves infinitely, and the gravitational pull is infinitely strong
- Conventional laws of physics stop applying at this point
How are black holes created?
- Most black holes are made when a supergiant star dies
- This happens when stars run out of fuel – like hydrogen – to burn, causing the star to collapse
- When this happens, gravity pulls the center of the star inwards quickly and collapses into a tiny ball
- It expands and contracts until one final collapse, causing part of the star to collapse inward thanks to gravity, and the rest of the star to explode outwards
- The remaining central ball is extremely dense, and if it’s especially dense, you get a black hole
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The Event Horizon Telescope essentially creates an Earth-sized telescope by linking together multiple radio dishes across the globe.
It consists of six telescopes, from Greenland to Chile.
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Nimesh Patel, an astrophysicist at the Centre for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian, added that the new observations required braving the aftermath of a snow storm at Maunakea to open the array.
To get clearer images, scientists have expanded the frequency range of the Event Horizon Telescope in this latest collaboration.
The telescope can't get any bigger, as it is already the size of the planet, and so bolstering the frequency is the next option.
The most recent images were captured at 345 GHz, which has never been achieved after linking up so many radio dishes.
“With the EHT, we saw the first images of black holes by detecting radio waves at 230 GHz, but the bright ring we saw, formed by light bending in the black hole’s gravity still looked blurry because we were at the absolute limits of how sharp we could make the images,” paper co-lead Alexander Raymond, explained.
Raymon, who now works at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, added: “At 345 GHz, our images will be sharper and more detailed, which in turn will likely reveal new properties, both those that were previously predicted and maybe some that weren’t.”
Scientists have now tabled plans to add new antennas to the telescope in optimal geographical locations, as well as upgrade existing stations.
“The EHT's successful observation at 345 GHz is a major scientific milestone,” said Lisa Kewley, Director of CfA and SAO.
“By pushing the limits of resolution, we’re achieving the unprecedented clarity in the imaging of black holes we promised early on, and setting new and higher standards for the capability of ground-based astrophysical research.”
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