The research team behind the Event Horizon Telescope project released their first images of a black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The giant black hole is 55 million light years from Earth with a mass about 6.5 billion times that of our sun. We’ll explain the news and take your questions.
First Photos of a Black Hole Captured by Event Horizon Telescope Project
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In this handout photo provided by the National Science Foundation, the Event Horizon Telescope captures a black hole at the center of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon. A network of eight radio observatories on six mountains and four continents, the EHT observed a black hole in Messier 87, a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo, on and off for 10 days in April of 2017 to make the image. (Photo: National Science Foundation via Getty Images)
Guests:
Sera Marhoff, astrophysicist, University of Amsterdam; researcher, Event Horizon Telescope Project
Priyamvada Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics, Yale University; author, "Mapping the Heavens"
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