Abstract
A black hole is an object with an extreme gravitational tug from which no light can escape. The nature of their strong gravity causes any material coming within the influence of its event horizon to be lost forever. The radiation from the hot disk of matter encircling the black hole opens the possibility to image these elusive objects, as it is impossible otherwise. Here, the first-ever image of the shadow of the supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy, M87, is reported based on the observations by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Similar content being viewed by others
Suggested Reading
The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration et.al., The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol875, No.9, L1–L6, April 2019.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Venkatessh Ramakrishnan is a postdoctoral fellow at the Astronomy Department of the Universidad de Concepcion, Chile. He is an active member of the Event Horizon Telescope Consortium. His research experience and interests ranges from the high angular resolution study of supermassive black holes (primarily using VLBI techniques) to the evolution of active galaxies (studies based on molecular and ionised gas dynamics).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ramakrishnan, V. Seeing is Believing. Reson 24, 529–534 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0807-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-019-0807-3