CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A new image of the first black hole ever surfaced. This is the second image captured by astronomers at Event Horizon Telescope after the first picture from 2017.
Event Horizon Telescope is an international collaboration that has been studying black holes since 2009.
With the dark shadow as well as the ring in the center are still present, scientists said this is exactly what Einstein predicted in his Theory of Relativity, which explains how gravity is related to the changing geometry of time and space.
The supermassive black holes they have studied include Saggistarius A(SGrA) from the Milky Way, and this one from the Messier 87 (M87) Galaxy. The center of this galaxy is 55 million light-years away from Earth and over 50% larger than the Milky Way.
These astronomers use a large network of radio telescopes around the world and a method known as interferometry to look at the image and piece together new information. Interferometry is a technique that uses the interferences from radio waves to capture an image.
Astronomers said the image is similar to the first one, but now has more information about the black hole. The bright spot seen within the black hole has shifted 30 degrees counterclockwise since the last picture was taken. Astronomers said this is due to the materials getting consumed within the accretion disk of the black hole.