Cosmologists, Attention…
So, at the conference of the European Southern Observatory at its headquarters in Germany on May 13, the first real picture of our galaxy was published – a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way
What does this mean and how did you manage to get this image))
First, let’s say right away that it was received not by a camera or some other optical equipment, but by the joint work of several radio telescopes:
Simply put, 8 radio telescopes at different ends of the earth have joined together in the Event Horizon Telescope project, effectively turning our planet into a giant radio telescope
For five years, these radio telescopes have been detecting radio emissions emanating from the Sagittarius a* black hole in the center of the galaxy:
After collecting the necessary amount of data, they were developed using a supercomputer of the Radio Astronomy Institute. Max Planck in Germany, after which an image was obtained of a black hole located at a distance of about 27,000 light-years from us and weighing 4 million times more than the Sun
But as they say-it’s easy in speech, it’s difficult to act))
According to Chi Kuan, an employee of Event Horizon Telescope, it was much more difficult to get an image of Sagittarius A*, which is relatively so close to us, than a black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 at a distance of more than 50 million light years:
According to the expert, the hot gases surrounding these two black holes (the accretion disk) move at a speed close to the speed of light, however, compared to the central giant M87, our Sagittarius A * is about 1000 times smaller, which is why the incandescent gases make one revolution around the latter very quickly, for a few hours:
This is exactly what has become one of the main factors complicating the work of specialists))
Well … it’s the same as trying to get a detailed image of a dog running very fast behind the tail
But in any case, the supercomputer managed to average such variations of data and get an impressive and historical picture
Let’s not forget to say that for such a fantastic result we should be grateful to about 300 specialists representing 80 structures from different countries))
Now professionals have images of black holes located in the centers of two galaxies of different types and different sizes from each other, which means that their further research will undoubtedly give answers on a number of important issues of concern to science
Well, the Event Horizon Telescope project continues to develop, so we can expect new images of black holes with higher quality
By the way, looking at the image below, you can get an idea of the size of our hero:
If we put the Sun in its center, the accretion disk of the black hole will cross the orbit of Mercury (but we won’t set it because the inveterate black hole will swallow it up)
Such things))
