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The first-ever direct image of a black hole has been recorded by NASA (and the Event Horizon Telescope, let’s not take away any credit)! If you’ve ever wondered what a black hole looks like but never had the mental ability to envision it, you won’t have to anymore!
According to NASA and the Event Horizon Telescope, the black hole M87—the same one that rose to prominence in astronomy in 2019—travels 240,000 kilometers per second and rotates at 80% of the cosmic limit!
Beyond space-time
The black hole spins at 80% of the cosmic limit, which means it travels at a speed so great that it is incomprehensible to humans—like a galactic drain that sucks up everything that approaches. According to Ruth Daly, an astrophysicist at Penn State University, it is a force that influences everything around it rather than merely a massive mass.
Because of its orbital speed, M87 is the best illustration of how tremendous gravity distorts space-time—something that was previously unknown!
A natural lab for general relativity
There are numerous other reasons why this black hole is unexpected. Its plasma jets, which are composed of particles moving nearly at the speed of light, are so strong that they can be seen with NASA’s telescopes and have a direct impact on galaxy formation.
But what does rotation have to do with it?
Okay, visualize a black hole. Have you thought of it? Everything in its path gets stolen by this type of occurrence; the more quickly it spins, the more it eats, and the energy it uses to do so allows it to continue gathering materials.
Twenty-four billion miles: how is that possible?
Wait, because that s not the only incredible number. With a diameter of 38.9 billion kilometers, this black hole is several times larger than Pluto and around 3,000 times larger than Earth.
M87 holds 6.5 billion solar masses. Additionally, space-time can be bent in any direction.
What does this mean?
It implies that it maintains a sort of thermal balance in M87 by consuming dust clouds, which stops new stars from developing too quickly.
How can you see something that emits no light?
Observing what occurs around black holes like these is crucial to their detection. In the case of M87, scientists have studied it thanks to the energy jets it shoots out and the glow produced by matter just before being devoured. You don t see the black hole itself, but you do see its effects.
However, if it doesn’t emit light, how can it be seen? Simply put, you’ve undoubtedly heard that NASA’s telescopes use advanced technology, including infrared, to let us to see this monster from our own planet!
What is the Event Horizon Telescope?
It is an international network that connects radio telescopes from the South Pole to Hawaii. When aligned, they can capture the black hole’s shadow on camera and detect millisecond variations in the ring of light, reaching the resolution of an Earth-sized telescope. Fantastic, huh?
Additionally, M87 is quite brilliant in radio waves and reasonably close (astronomically speaking).
And what about James Webb?
The James Webb Space Telescope records infrared from the dusty environment, while the EHT records radio frequencies. Scientists can reconstruct temperatures, velocity, and the makeup of the plasma fueling M87 by combining data from many wavelengths.
This finding raises other queries. What occurs if a black hole spins even more quickly? Is there a cap? Are comparable ones able to form in other parts of the universe? We don’t know the answers, but we can’t provide them to you. However, one thing is certain: we are still in awe of the universe’s surprises!
