The first ever photograph of a black hole has been revealed
Just last night, astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope Project in Washington revealed the first photo ever to be released of a black hole; those regions in space that have such strong gravitational effects that nothing, not even light can escape from them. When the image was put up on the screen in the US, cheers and gasps, followed by applause, broke out in the room and throughout a universe of astrofans who were following the live-streamed event.
The project involved more than 200 scientists and a planet sized network of radio telescopes, with the image actually provoing Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity; that if too much energy or matter was situated in the same place, matter and light could be trapped indefinitely. Priyamvada Natarajan, an astrophysicist from Yale University said “Einstein must be totally chuffed, his theory has just been stress-tested under conditions of extreme gravity, and looks to have held up.”
Julia Carr-Catzel spoke to Gerraint Lewis, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney about what the photograph means for the future of astronomy.
