Global InformationEvent Horizon Telescope information
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| Alternative names | EHT  |
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| Established | 2009 |
| Website | eventhorizontelescope |
| Telescopes |
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The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a large telescope array consisting of a global network of radio telescopes. The EHT project combines data from several very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) stations around Earth, which form a combined array with an angular resolution sufficient to observe objects the size of a supermassive black hole's event horizon. The project's observational targets include the two black holes with the largest angular diameter as observed from Earth: the black hole at the center of the supergiant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87*, pronounced "M87-Star"), and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*, pronounced "Sagittarius A-Star") at the center of the Milky Way.[1][2]
The Event Horizon Telescope project is an international collaboration that was launched in 2009[1] after a long period of theoretical and technical developments. On the theory side, work on the photon orbit[3] and first simulations of what a black hole would look like[4] progressed to predictions of VLBI imaging for the Galactic Center black hole, Sgr A*.[5][6] Technical advances in radio observing moved from the first detection of Sgr A*,[7] through VLBI at progressively shorter wavelengths, ultimately leading to detection of horizon scale structure in both Sgr A* and M87.[8][9] The collaboration now comprises over 300[10] members, and 60 institutions, working in over 20 countries and regions.[11]
The first image of a black hole, at the center of galaxy Messier 87, was published by the EHT Collaboration on April 10, 2019, in a series of six scientific publications.[12] The array made this observation at a wavelength of 1.3 mm and with a theoretical diffraction-limited resolution of 25 microarcseconds. In March 2021, the Collaboration presented, for the first time, a polarized-based image of the black hole which may help better reveal the forces giving rise to quasars.[13] Future plans involve improving the array's resolution by adding new telescopes and by taking shorter-wavelength observations.[2][14] On 12 May 2022, astronomers unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*.[15]
- ^ a b Doeleman, Sheperd (June 21, 2009). "Imaging an Event Horizon: submm-VLBI of a Super Massive Black Hole". Astro2010: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey, Science White Papers. 2010: 68. arXiv:0906.3899. Bibcode:2009astro2010S..68D.
- ^ a b The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (April 10, 2019). "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 875 (1): L1. arXiv:1906.11238. Bibcode:2019ApJ...875L...1E. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab0ec7. S2CID 145906806.
- ^ Bardeen, James (1973). "Black holes. Edited by C. DeWitt and B. S. DeWitt". Les Houches École d'Été de Physique Théorique. Bibcode:1973blho.conf.....D.
- ^ Luminet, Jean-Pierre (July 31, 1979). "Image of a spherical black hole with thin accretion disk". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 75: 228. Bibcode:1979A&A....75..228L.
- ^ Falcke, Heino; Melia, Fulvio; Agol, Eric (January 1, 2000). "Viewing the Shadow of the Black Hole at the Galactic Center". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 528 (1): L13–L16. arXiv:astro-ph/9912263. Bibcode:2000ApJ...528L..13F. doi:10.1086/312423. PMID 10587484. S2CID 119433133.
- ^ Broderick, Avery; Loeb, Abraham (April 11, 2006). "Imaging optically-thin hotspots near the black hole horizon of Sgr A* at radio and near-infrared wavelengths". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 367 (3): 905–916. arXiv:astro-ph/0509237. Bibcode:2006MNRAS.367..905B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10152.x. S2CID 16881360.
- ^ Balick, Bruce; Brown, R.L. (December 1, 1974). "Intense sub-arcsecond structure in the galactic center". The Astrophysical Journal. 194 (1): 265–279. Bibcode:1974ApJ...194..265B. doi:10.1086/153242. S2CID 121802758.
- ^ Doeleman, Sheperd (September 4, 2008). "Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre". Nature. 455 (7209): 78–80. arXiv:0809.2442. Bibcode:2008Natur.455...78D. doi:10.1038/nature07245. PMID 18769434. S2CID 4424735.
- ^ Doeleman, Sheperd (October 19, 2012). "Jet-launching structure resolved near the supermassive black hole in M87". Science. 338 (6105): 355–358. arXiv:1210.6132. Bibcode:2012Sci...338..355D. doi:10.1126/science.1224768. PMID 23019611. S2CID 37585603.
- ^ "Winners Of The 2020 Breakthrough Prize In Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics And Mathematics Announced". Breakthrough Prize. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
- ^ "Event Horizon Telescope 2022". March 12, 2022.
- ^ Shep Doeleman, on behalf of the EHT Collaboration (April 2019). "Focus on the First Event Horizon Telescope Results". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (March 24, 2021). "The Most Intimate Portrait Yet of a Black Hole – Two years of analyzing the polarized light from a galaxy's giant black hole has given scientists a glimpse at how quasars might arise". The New York Times. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
aasnova-20190410was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Overbye, Dennis (May 12, 2022). "Has the Milky Way's Black Hole Come to Light? – The Event Horizon Telescope reaches again for a glimpse of the 'unseeable'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2022.