First Images of Black Holes!

[Unbeliever]

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration observed the supermassive black holes at the center of M87 and our Milky Way galaxy (SgrA*) finding the dark central shadow in accordance with General Relativity, further demonstrating the power of this 100 year-old theory.

This is pretty cool, I hope they can get even better images down the road.

[Baruch]

Now you can see, literally, where all your tax money has gone ;-)

[PopeyesPappy]

This is indeed pretty cool stuff. I remember making a thread here about the Event Horizon Telescope project several years ago when they were hoping to catch a glimpse of Sagittarius A as a cloud of gas and dust was headed it's way. That event didn't pan out for them, but I am really glad to see they eventually got it to work.

[trdsf]

At 3:40, when they explained how they connected the eight telescopes, that was what blew my mind.  Just imagine the discoveries that could be made if science budgets weren't funded only grudgingly and sparingly.

[Baruch]

At 3:40, when they explained how they connected the eight telescopes, that was what blew my mind.  Just imagine the discoveries that could be made if science budgets weren't funded only grudgingly and sparingly.

More backdrops for scifi TV shows.

[Baruch]

This is indeed pretty cool stuff. I remember making a thread here about the Event Horizon Telescope project several years ago when they were hoping to catch a glimpse of Sagittarius A as a cloud of gas and dust was headed it's way. That event didn't pan out for them, but I am really glad to see they eventually got it to work.

When doing hard things, we often don't get it right the first time (Hubble mirror), but given grit and ability and resources, keep tweaking until we do get it right.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

At 3:40, when they explained how they connected the eight telescopes, that was what blew my mind.  Just imagine the discoveries that could be made if science budgets weren't funded only grudgingly and sparingly.

A virtual telescope the size of the Earth has been done for years. Computing power is the only limit now.

[Baruch]

A virtual telescope the size of the Earth has been done for years. Computing power is the only limit now.

I think originally done with radio waves, not at shorter wavelengths.  But still amazing computer power.  Basically integrating multiple sources with fourier transforms and filtering.  Good multidimensional fourier transforms are not trivial calculations.

[drunkenshoe]

It's so cool. My heart beat faster for a few secs watching the feed. We saw this in our life time! I wish Hawking could have seen it too. Also, as it is said above, the telescope system is mind blowing. But then mine is an easy one to blow.       

Thanks to Uncle Albert and Uncle Stephen.   

Instant comments everywhere around in various languages were 'the one ring!' and 'he was right, again'. LOL

[Shiranu]

https://people.com/human-interest/katie-bouman-scientist-helped-take-black-hole-photo/

It is important I think to learn from our past mistakes and give her the credit she deserves now rather than waiting 50 years after her death to be like, "Oh, right, she was pretty important."

Bouman is a 29-year old computer scientist who graduated from MIT, works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and spent the last 6 years of her life (starting when she was a grad. student) developing the algorithm that made this picture possible.

While obviously the entire crew deserve credit for making this happen, even amongst them her work stands out.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It's so cool. My heart beat faster for a few secs watching the feed. We saw this in our life time! I wish Hawking could have seen it too. Also, as it is said above, the telescope system is mind blowing. But then mine is an easy one to blow.       

Thanks to Uncle Albert and Uncle Stephen.   

Instant comments everywhere around in various languages were 'the one ring!' and 'he was right, again'. LOL

[Baruch]

A good video of the genesis of this groundbreaking result.

[Cavebear]

This is pretty cool, I hope they can get even better images down the road.

Science marches on...

[Cavebear]

Science marches on...

[Baruch]

Like army ants?