We are about to see a Black Hole for the First Time in History

We are about to see a Black Hole for the First Time in History

A pulsar orbiting a black hole. Credit: Skatelescope.org

The highest resolution instrument in the history of astronomy is about to prove if black holes are real or not.

Even though Albert Einstein’s theories showed potential black holes, neither the physician himself was sure of them.

Until now, no one had a concrete proof that the theory of general relativity is real, but this year, the most accomplished astronomical instrument ever made is about to discover whether the theories of the past years are true or not. As far as we know, “Einstein’s monsters” are gigantic interstellar objects that have the power to attract anything around them, even light.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is not an ordinary telescope. This is an entire network of telescopes interconnected and located all over the planet, with all the elements necessary to capture a black hole.

“First, you can see through the gas in the Milky Way and the hot gas surrounding the black hole itself. That requires a telescope as big as Earth, which is where the EHT comes into play.” EHT Director Sheperd Doeleman told Futurism

It is believed that in the heart of each galaxy there is a supermassive black hole that holds such a strong gravity that even light is attracted inside. It’s all part of the cycle of life and death on an interstellar scale. Due to the fact that nothing can come out from there, many questions about these astronomical phenomena are still unknown to us. How do blackheads grow? How do they get everything around them?

Avery Broderick explains in the next video whether we will be able to validate or invalidate the true existence of black holes.

The project to capture Sagitarius A began in April 2017

Through this Earth-sized telescope we are expecting to see this year the silhouette of the disk of a supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy.

“One of the really nice things about this is taking an image of black hole event horizon has been beyond our reach for so long that it’s been a pleasant surprise to build upon these existing technologies and capture an image so soon,” says Monash University astrophysicist Professor Michael Brown. “It really complements the exciting gravitational wave discoveries of merging black holes and the creation of new black holes.”

Sagittarius A lies 26,000 light-years away from Earth and the black hole can be considered super tiny, just as small as a box on the surface of the moon, captured from our planet.

These new observations should be able to help astronomers determine all the characteristics of black hole, like mass, spin and gravity. If the project succeeds, future observation will potentially solve deep cosmological mysteries

 

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