How an Earth-sized telescope has been assembled to photograph black holes

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So much the first photograph of a black hole ever captured, published in 2019, such as the portrait of Sagittarius A* in the center of the Milky Way, have been made possible thanks to the joint work of an international consortium of scientists. Both prints are, in fact, the work of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT); a global network of eight instruments scientists high-precision telescopes that, working in sync, have managed to emulate the power of a “giant virtual telescope” of the size of our planet.

To achieve this, which is soon said, these eight high-precision scientific instruments had to synchronize their antennas using atomic clockspoint at the same instant towards the center of the galaxy and observe (or rather, collect data) on these points in the universe where the Gravitational force it is so and so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. this complex operation was repeated for several days throughout July 2017. And from there the thousands of observations that have made these images possible.

One of the key pieces of this global network of telescopes has been the 30-meter antenna located on Pico Veletain the heart of Sierra Nevada, in Granada, where the Institute of Millimeter Radio Astronomy (IRAM). It also highlights the analytical work carried out since Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), a center associated with the Higher Council for Scientific Research, hand in hand with a Spanish team of scientists.

historical milestone

As explained by the scientific team responsible for these space photographs, a few decades ago it was totally unimaginable to be able capture the light (or rather the shadow) of a black hole. More if we take into account that to reach the closest to us, Sagittarius A*it would be necessary to travel 26,000 years at the speed of light until reaching the center of our galaxy and focusing on an astronomical object that measures about 44 kilometers in diameter and whose mass is equivalent to four million times that of our Sun.

“It was like taking a picture of a child running at night”

José Luis Gómez, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (CSIC)

To photograph this ‘gravity monster’, a term coined by the most inventive scientists, it has not only been necessary to synchronize the world’s large radio telescopes. They have also had to calibrate over 10 billion observations captured by the ‘virtual telescope’ the size of the Earth, analyze the collected data for years and coordinate, once again, the thinking minds of hundreds of experts from around the world.

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The first image of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, experts explain, It has been especially difficult because, in addition to all of the above, observations of this black hole show that it is much more convulsive than its predecessor pictured in 2019. The gas cloud surrounding Sagittarius A* it orbits at such a speed and so great that in just one day the silhouette of this object could change completely. So that we understand each other, photographing this black hole was “how to take a picture of a child running at night“, has explained Jose Luis Gomezof the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (CSIC).

“Maybe this image not so revolutionary like the one from a few years ago, because we had already seen the first photograph of a black hole. Even so, achieving it represents an unprecedented technical milestone“, Mar Mezcua, researcher at the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC, ICE-CSIC) and independent expert on the recently published finding. “Obtaining this image of the center of our galaxy is technically very complicated due to the amount of dust and space matter What’s between us and Sagittarius A*. And if that wasn’t enough, knowing what the center of the Milky Way is like is fascinating“, comments, excited, the expert.



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