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Thursday, 11 April 2019

Astronomers reveal first picture of a black hole

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the very first picture taken of a black hole. Astronomers revealed the image yesterday at a press conference that is extremely worth watching, not only for this groundbreaking bit of science, but for the incredibly smart scientists able to explain the gravity of the situation (geddit?).

Some 55 mn light years away, the supermassive black hole is at the heart of galaxy Messier 87 and its weight is around 6 bn times that of our sun. The image was taken via a global network of eight radio telescopes known as the Event Horizon Telescope which created a virtual telescope dish the size of the earth (watch, runtime 0:44). The FT also has a great explainer.

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