What Happened?
Scientists have just recently taken an image of a black hole, previously thought to be impossible. The specific black hole is located in the center of the Messier 87 Galaxy, 55 million light years away, and the black hole is 6.5 billion times more massive than our sun!
How did they do it?
The image is actually not the black hole itself, but the light from gasses surrounding it from 55 million years ago being pulled into the massively strong gravity of the black hole. The image is taken by the "Event Horizon" telescope.
The Event Horizon Telescope, a network of telescopes carefully set throughout our earth in locations from the Americas (Hawaii to Boston) , Europe, Africa, and Antartica, acting as a virtual telescope the size of a side of our whole earth. Adjustments in the millimeters were made for this special project.
Event Horizon TelescopeWhy is this Event Significant?
Learning about the universe provides insight into physics, the language we explain why things happen. With this image, Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity has been proven in larger, denser objects out of our solar system. We are able to create a more precise calculation of a blackhole's mass than ever before.