Scientists to record first video of black hole, already tried making a movie
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Loading... - Angela Auge
- 03 Jun 2022
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The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of telescopes that comes together every few years to reveal the darkest corner of our universe is setting its eyes on a new mission. After photographing the black holes at the center of the Milky Way and the Messier 87 galaxies, scientists want to shoot a video.
The video will show the churnings and the movement of the event horizon and the gas that orbits around the surface. Scientists want to capture a series of images showing that churning, hoping that it will show the evolution of the mysterious object that does not even allow light to pass through it.
While taking snapshots of the black hole is difficult thanks to the massive distance, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A*, is 27,000 light-years away from Earth, attempting to capture a video of the object will be a massive challenge in itself. Engineers are therefore working on improvements in the EHT that is likely to be completed by 2024.
Once the improvements are completed, engineers will be able to switch observations on and off, which will allow scientists to make use of free time on the telescopes over a long period, rather than an observing campaign lasting a week or two.
During a news conference at the National Science Foundation, scientists said that while the observations will begin in 2024, they will need a few years to process the data into a movie using imaging techniques. The team had already attempted to make a movie in 2017 using the data from the M87* observations. They had developed algorithms to make movies. However, the data was not enough for clear visualization.
EHT will attempt to make the first movie around the black hole in M87 located 54.5 million light-years away from Earth, it appears similar in size to Sagittarius A* thanks to its staggering distance and massive size. Scientists want to capture moving visuals of the event horizon, the gas ring around Sagittarius A*, which is 58 million kilometers wide and could fit inside the orbit of Mercury. Read More...
