In April 2019, for the first time in history black hole image. It matched what was found in the center of the M87 galaxy and this caused a real resonance in the media. This is not surprising, since it was a great milestone in the history of science. Later in 2021, a new, clearer image was taken that included the lines a magnetic field from the edge of a black hole. Now another photograph, taken shortly after the first, shows the movement of a disk of light in an image that confirms existing theories about black holes.
They noticed three interesting things in particular. On the one hand, the image of a black hole shows that brightest point It has moved about 30 degrees counterclockwise. Now he’s found at 5:00. On the other hand, they confirmed that the ring size remained the same as in 2017, when the images published in 2019 were taken.
This is great news because, on the one hand, it confirms that what was photographed back then was indeed a black hole and that it was not a coincidence. And, on the other hand, it is shown that Einstein was right that general theory of relativity concerns black holes. But why did the brightness shift and what is positive about it?
New milestones in imaging black hole M87*
New image of black hole made possible by Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). This is a collaboration that involves radio telescopes around the world so that the effects of a large Earth-sized telescope can be simulated. In 2018, two new ones were added to the telescopes that captured the 2017 images: one in Greenland and one in Mexicoalthough more have been added since then.
It is important to remember that a black hole You can’t take pictures. The image of M87* shows a shadow created by material rotating in the accretion disk. Black holes are objects so massive that nothing can escape their gravitational pull, not even light. Therefore, anything that crosses a certain distance, known as the event horizon, approaches and hits them. But before the fall, all this matter, dust and radiation revolves around him, in the so-called accretion disk. It emits a large amount of energy, which can be detected using radio telescopes. So what they capture and photograph is the outline of the black hole, not the black hole itself.
Despite this, you can see its size. The first major milestone in this new image of the black hole is that the size has not changed. It was what was expected. Yes, this made it the highlight of the album. But it’s logical. At least, this should be the case if hypotheses about behavior of magnetic field and plasma around a black hole are correct. Fluctuations in the brightness of the accretion disk confirm this, at least for now, this is true.
There are many more of them in the universe
The first image of a black hole will appear in 2022 our own galaxy. In the same year, another one was immortalized by the launch of the characteristic jets of these objects.
Moreover, thanks to new telescopes such as the James Webb, although it has not been photographed, it can be detected. very distant black holes. It’s true that a few years ago, black holes were one of the greatest mysteries of the Universe. However, we know more and more about them, and science has more tools to identify many more. Although the light cannot escape them.
Source: Hiper Textual
