Here is the first direct image of a supermassive black hole. Captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, a network of eight radio telescopes spread across the world, the image shows the bright, spinning disk of material around the galaxy M87's supermassive black hole. Due the the intense gravity present near black holes, the appearance of the disk is warped. (Credit: EHT Collaboration) A massive international collaboration of researchers has released the first-ever direct image of the hellish environment surrounding a supermassive black hole. As part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, the team used a global array of telescopes to probe the fiery disk of material swirling around the gargantuan black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. The results confirm that the hot gas swirling around a black hole is traveling at nearly the speed of light, creating a chaotic maelstrom around the black hole itself. And according to research published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the structure of black hole is nearly circular, as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, meaning the theory has passed yet another stringent test. "Overall," the paper states, "the observed image is consistent with expectations for the shadow of a spinning Kerr black hole as predicted by general relativity."
Event Horizon Telescope Releases Humanity's First Ever Black Hole Image
