Reference Resource Roundup: Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

From Event Horizon Telescope Website (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian):

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. Today, in coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers reveal that they have succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow.

This breakthrough was announced today in a series of six papers published in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87 [1], a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.

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“We have taken the first picture of a black hole,” said EHT project director Sheperd S. Doeleman of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “This is an extraordinary scientific feat accomplished by a team of more than 200 researchers.”

Resources

Complete News Release (via Event Horizon Telescope)

Press Conferences

Washington DC Press Conference

European Commission Press Conference

Hi-Res Images

4000×2330 pixels 
PNG (16-bit) |||  JPG (8-bit) format

7416×4320 pixels TIF, 16-bit, 180 Mb
via NSF and ESO

This research was presented in a series of six papers published today in a special issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters, along with a Focus Issue:

Paper I: The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole

Paper II: Array and Instrumentation

Paper III: Data processing and Calibration

Paper IV: Imaging the Central Supermassive Black Hole

Paper V: Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring

Paper VI: The Shadow and Mass of the Central Black Hole

From NASA

Black Hole Image Makes History

Media Coverage

First Ever Real Image Of A Black Hole Revealed (via New Scientist)

Selected Resources About Project

• Event Horizon Telescope Project FAQ
• Event Horizon Telescope  Project Infographics
• Event Horizon Telescope  Videos (via YouTube)
• Event Horizon Telescope on Twitter
• ALMA and the Event Horizon Telescope: Tip Sheet (via National Radio Astronomy Observatory)
• Black Holes Special Report: Exploring Black Holes (via NSF)
• Taking the First Picture of a Black Hole (via European Southern Observatory)

SXSW 2019 Panel (Recorded March 2019): “A Planetary Effort To Photograph A Black Hole” 

Last Updated: April 10, 2019 (3:30pm EDST)

Filed under: Journal Articles, News, Roundup, Video Recordings