This a star-devouring monster in all its glory.
Astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered across the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity.
The image of a dark core with a flame-orange halo of gas and plasma shows a supermassive black hole 50 million lightyears away in a galaxy known as M87, they announced during simultaneous press conferences in Brussels, Shanghai, Tokyo, Washington, Santiago and Taipei.
Data needed to construct the picture was gathered in April 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope, a joined-up network of eight radio telescopes spread across the globe.
Maelstrom at the gates of Hell. First-ever image of a black hole, wider than our whole solar system. Einstein, we rejoice in your brilliance. pic.twitter.com/Psp2TMwVk8
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) April 10, 2019
The technique, which has been used to make radio images for many decades, provides results similar to using a single telescope as big as the area over which the smaller ones are located.
The ETH project used eight telescopes spread over different locations in the US, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Antarctica, Mexico, Denmark and France to create a result similar to having used an Earth-sized telescope.
"The blackhole itself is like a giant lens. The light coming from behind the blackhole will not come in a straight line, like usual, but bend around its edges," Bhattacharyya said.
The distribution of the bent light, combine with the shape of the blackhole's shadow, will give a lot of information about the blackhole and its gravitational properties.
Space ensthusiasts took to Twitter to express their excitement as they count down to the moment.
"I think in human history we are the first generation to see the first ever picture of #Blackhole," one user wrote.
"This is epic, legendary, totally mind blowing. The inner kid in me is jumping up and down," another user said.
1. Stephen Hawking misses it
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Some users pointed out how British physicist Stephen Hawking, who passed away last year, missed this historic moment.
In 1974, Hawking for the first time predicted the existence of Hawking radiation which are released by blackholes.
The idea of a body so massive that even light could not escape was briefly proposed by astronomical pioneer and English clergyman John Michell in a letter published in November 1784.
In 1915, German scientist Albert Einstein developed his theory of general relativity, having earlier shown that gravity does influence light's motion.
Further work on the theory of general relativity helped prove the existence of blackholes.
2. The Einstein Experimen
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An international scientific team is expected on Wednesday to unveil a landmark achievement in astrophysics - the first photo of a black hole - in a feat that will put to the test a pillar of science: Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Black holes are phenomenally dense celestial entities with gravitational fields so powerful no matter or light can escape, making them extraordinarily difficult to observe despite their great mass.
News conferences are set in Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo to disclose a "groundbreaking result" from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, begun in 2012 to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole using a global network of telescopes.
A black hole's event horizon is the point of no return beyond which anything - stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation - gets swallowed into oblivion.
The project targeted two supermassive black holes residing at the center of different galaxies.
The Washington news conference convened by the U.S. National Science Foundation is scheduled for 9 a.m. (1300 GMT) on Wednesday. Among those due to speak are astrophysicist Sheperd Doeleman, director of the Event Horizon Telescope at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian.
The research will test the theory of general relativity put forward in 1915 by Einstein, the famed theoretical physicist, to explain the laws of gravity and their relation to other natural forces.
Einstein's theory allows for a prediction of the size and shape of a black hole. If the prediction turns out to be off the mark, the theory may need rethinking.
This is separate from another key component of Einstein's broader theory of relativity: his 1905 theory of special relativity, part of the basis of modern physics. The theory of special relativity explaining the relationship between space and time.
