This is the first-ever real photo of a black hole
Finally, the scientists from the European Southern Observatory have revealed the first-ever photo of a black hole. In a historic press conference, they unveiled the event horizon of a supermassive black hole sitting at the center of Messier 87, a galaxy located 53 million light-years away from Earth. This is something that has never been done in the history of space observation. Here's more.
Take a look at the historic image
'First result from the Event Horizon Telescope'
As black holes are deep voids that cannot be seen, ESO looked at the event horizon, the boundary or the region beyond which light doesn't escape, of the supermassive black hole. Scientists expected this to look like a ring of fire, and that's exactly what M87's void looked like: a giant dark circle orbited by swirling bright light, just like how planets orbit stars.
And, this black hole is insanely massive
We all have heard that supermassive black holes are massive, and this one proves just that. According to ESO's scientists, the black hole captured in this picture spans hundred billion kilometers diameter but still looks like a mustard seed in the Washington sea from Earth.
Why this photo is important
In the history of space observation, no one has captured the photograph of a black hole. They gobble up everything and don't allow anything, not even light, to escape -- a fact that makes them invisible and impossible to capture. However, ESO's technique worked, thanks to their Event Horizon Telescope, a huge radio telescope array formed from observatories located across the globe.
