The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team has confirmed its earlier findings about the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87*. In 2019, the EHT captured the first direct image of a black hole’s event horizon. Last year, the team shared updated images of M87* from 2018 observations, revealing more details about what a black hole looks like. This new study, “The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M87,” published in *Astronomy & Astrophysics*, builds on these findings by presenting additional images and confirming previous interpretations.
Waterloo researchers played a pivotal role in this work, with their team processing the EHT data to simulate what M87*’s surroundings should look like. The confirmation validates the accuracy of earlier results while highlighting ongoing changes in the black hole’s appearance. “We started to see changes, and that’s exactly what we would have expected,” said Avery Broderick, a professor at the University of Waterloo. His team’s contributions are extensive, with Waterloo leading much of the analysis and training future EHT scientists.
This collaborative effort underscores the importance of global teamwork in unraveling black hole mysteries, showcasing how collective innovation drives scientific progress.
Source: https://uwaterloo.ca/science/news