OT: First ever image of black hole revealed

Submitted by evenyoubrutus on April 10th, 2019 at 9:42 AM

There it is, folks. The first ever image of a black hole has been captured after a years long project called "the even horizon telescope" that involved linking radio telescopes all over the globe. It's the super massive black hole at the center of M-87, a super giant 53 million lightyears away.

If you're into astronomy and general science nerd type stuff, this is an earth shattering discovery (pun intended). It's one of the most significant moments of our lifetimes, and yet another Einstein theory that has been proven.

uminks

April 10th, 2019 at 1:38 PM ^

I know the science of the singularity of high energy particles which may have been only as large as a point of a pin that exploded 13 B years ago and continue to expand. Also there could be a number of infinite universes parallel to our own.  May be there is a parallel earth where Michigan football has already won two national championships.

uminks

April 10th, 2019 at 5:48 PM ^

Yes, the light they're detecting is 53 million light years away.  I sure hope that the red star Betelgeuse will become a super nova in the next 30-40 years, so that may be I can see it before I die? The supernova would be 2 time brighter than our moon and may be the same size. Scientist say it may have become a super nova during the 14th century but since Betelgeuse is 450  light years away, we may not observe for another 100 years. Betelgeuse is located on the left shoulder of Orion.

Stay.Classy.An…

April 10th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^

I’ll take the downvotes for being stupid. But can someone explain what the hell I’m supposed to be looking at? I see the black hole, is the red stuff around it all the stuff it’s destroying or is that also part of the black hole? I’m a science fan, but I’m confused as hell. 

ca_prophet

April 10th, 2019 at 5:02 PM ^

Upvoted for asking about something you don’t know.

What you see is the accretion disc - the matter that is orbiting the black hole.  Since its gravity well is powerful and steep, there is a zone outside the event horizon (the point of no return, as you have to go faster than the speed of light to escape), where particles can orbit the hole without falling in.  As they are generally moving very fast, the collisions are quite spectacular, emitting lots of energy.  The radio telescopes can detect that energy.

BTW, super-massive black holes like this one have equivalent mass from a few hundred thousand, to a few billion, stellar masses (e.g. one stellar mass ~ 1 Sun).  The accretion disc for something like this doesn’t just have particles and hydrogen gas and so forth - it has entire stars waiting to be swallowed ...

M and M Boys

April 10th, 2019 at 6:43 PM ^

Yeah, but he's not the only one....

 

Look close, it's a trick.

This is an old photo (1960) of Groucho Marx smoking his cigar with his arm extended as the TV sound stage of "You Bet Your Life" lost lighting and power while filming....

His contestant that night was a Mrs. Story who had 19 children.

GROUCHO: "Why do you have so many children?  That's a big responsibility and a big burden."

MRS. STORY:  "Well, because I love my children and I think that's the purpose here on Earth, and I love my husband."

GROUCHO: "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while,"