Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole

Darkness Visible, Finally: Astronomers(əˈstränəmər) Capture First Ever Image of a Black Hole

Astronomers at last have captured a picture of one of the most secretive(ˈsēkridiv) entities(ˈen(t)ədē) in the cosmos(-ˌmäs,-ˌmōs,ˈkäzməs).

By Dennis(dannəs) Overbye

Astronomers announced on Wednesday(-dē,ˈwenzdā) that at last they had captured an image of the unobservable(ˌənəbˈzərvəbəl): a black hole, a cosmic(ˈkäzmik) abyss(əˈbis) so deep and dense(dens) that not even light can escape(əˈskāp) it.

For years, and for all the mounting(ˈmoun(t)iNG) scientific(ˌsīənˈtifik) evidence, black holes have remained(rəˈmān) marooned(məˈro͞on) in the imaginations(iˌmajəˈnāSHən) of artists(ˈärdəst) and the algorithms(ˈalɡəˌriT͟Həm) of splashy(ˈsplaSHē) computer models of the kind used in Christopher(ˈkristəfər) Nolan’s outer-space epic(ˈepik) “Interstellar(ˌin(t)ərˈstelər).” Now they are more real than ever.

“We have seen what we thought was unseeable(ˌənˈsēəbəl),” said Shep(a) Doeleman(dooləmən), an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian(sôˈnēn) Center for Astrophysics(ˈastrōˈfizik), and director of the effort(ˈefərt) to capture the image, during a Wednesday news conference(ˈkänf(ə)rəns) in Washington(ˈwäSH-,ˈwôSHiNGtən), D.C.

The image, of a lopsided(ˈläpˌsīdəd, ˌläpˈsīdəd) ring of light surrounding a dark circle deep in the heart of a galaxy(ˈgaləksē) known as Messier(ˈmesēˌā, mesˈyā) 87, some 55 million light-years away from Earth, resembled(rəˈzembəl) the Eye of Sauron, a reminder(rəˈmīndər) yet again of the implacable(imˈplakəb(ə)l) power of nature. It is a smoke ring framing(ˈfrāmiNG) a one-way portal(ˈpôrtl) to eternity(əˈtərnədē).

To capture the image, astronomers reached across intergalactic(ˌin(t)ərɡəˈlaktik) space to Messier 87, or M87, a giant(ˈjīənt) galaxy in the constellation(ˌkänstəˈlāSHən) Virgo(ˈvərgō). There, a black hole several billion times more massive(ˈmasiv) than the sun is unleashing(ˌənˈlēSH) a violent(ˈvī(ə)lənt) jet(jet) of energy(ˈenərjē) some 5,000 light-years into space.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/science/black-hole-picture.html

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