Detailed image of supermassive black hole shows its powerful jet
New ScientistDec 24, 2022
Scientists Release Sharpest Supermassive Black Hole Image
Image copyright: NRAO/AUI/NSF/Handout [via REUTERS]
The Facts
On Wednesday, scientists released the sharpest-ever image showing the violent events unfolding around black holes, including the launching point of a huge jet of high-energy particles shooting outward into space.
The image — obtained using 16 telescopes at various locations on Earth — shows a supermassive black hole at the center of a relatively nearby galaxy called Messier 87, or M87, about 54M light-years from Earth. A light-year is equivalent to 9.5T km (5.9M miles).
The Spin
Narrative A
Beyond the historic nature of this imaging — on par with Apollo 8's "Earthrise" — studying black holes is immensely important to understand how gravity and general relativity work under the most extreme conditions and the idea of the so-called "one-way door from our universe." The discovery of these celestial giants, which comes over a century after Albert Einstein theorized about them, shows that humanity is one step closer to figuring out the cosmic mystery that has baffled physicists for decades.
Narrative B
Black holes are the hardest-to-see objects in the universe because they don't reflect or emit any light, which is why each new black hole discovery is historic and exciting. However, quantitative evidence of black holes is still missing, and scientists still haven't recorded two supermassive black holes merging or figured out how the process warps time. These discoveries could happen soon, but the global curiosity surrounding these questions won't be quenched until they do.