Black Hole Photographed for 1st Time

Southpaw

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https://www.theguardian.com/science...captured-for-first-time-in-space-breakthrough



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Astronomers have captured the first image of a black hole, heralding a revolution in our understanding of the universe’s most enigmatic objects.

The picture shows a halo of dust and gas, tracing the outline of a colossal black hole, at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy, 55m light years from Earth.

Quick guide
What are black holes?
The black hole itself – a cosmic trapdoor from which neither light nor matter can escape – is unseeable. But the latest observations take astronomers right to its threshold for the first time, illuminating the event horizon beyond which all known physical laws collapse.

The breakthrough image was captured by the Event Horizon telescope (EHT), a network of eight radio telescopes spanning locations from Antarctica to Spain and Chile, in an effort involving more than 200 scientists.

Sheperd Doeleman, EHT director and Harvard University senior research fellow said: “Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe. We have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have taken a picture of a black hole.”
 

puckhead

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If you're interested in learning more, I found this to be an excellent article about Black Holes. It's only a couple of pages. I'll quote the conclusion:

The waterfall's edge

Although black holes started as a mathematical curiosity that was tolerated by the established scientific community of the early twentieth century, over the decades since Einstein suggested and Schwarzschild revealed their nature, science now sees them as indispensable forces of creation and the sculptors of mighty galaxies.

But, this new understanding compels some to indulge in a bit of speculation that's evocative, intriguing and somewhat disquieting. Could it be possible that the Big Bang was simply the consequence of some universal black hole that accreted all the matter of a previous Universe, imploded then exploded resulting in the Cosmos where humanmankind exists?

For some, it's not only possible but most likely probable.

For example, imagine crossing the event horizon of a black hole. Like plungling in a basket over Niagara, once it's crossed there's no hope of return- you will fall into the singularity and there is nothing that can prevent it. At the same time, you will never receive information from anything that may have preceded and is located closer to the singularity than your current position because no information can escape from within. You can only know about where you are and that which is behind you. Isn't this very similar to the way time functions in our Universe? While we move forward into tomorrow, there is no way for us to know anything about it beforehand. We only have knowledge about the present and all our yesterdays.

So, what's it like to journey past a black hole's event horizon? Some would respond, "Simply look around you."

These ponderings have the earmarks of metaphysical philosophy. Most likely, they can and never will be provisionally confirmed or completely dismissed. Yet, they stir our blood and awaken our yearning to pursue the most fundamental questions of all: where did the Universe, and therefore we ourselves, come from and what waits just over the waterfall's edge.

https://www.cosmotography.com/images/supermassive_blackholes_drive_galaxy_evolution_2.html
 

Covert Rain

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I just hope someone called Gandalf just in case the photo is simply out of focus.
 
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