Black holes have always been a mystery to many. Many scientists
have dedicated their lives for the study of black holes. Although till date, we
still don’t have an actual picture of a Black hole; scientists are trying to
get a closer look at it. And with advancements in the field of technology, soon
we’ll be able to see an actual picture of a black hole. How is it possible? Let’s
see.
Event Horizon Telescope is a project which has been started
to study the event horizon of the black hole -Sagittarius A* which is situated
in our galaxy. It will capture the pictures of the event horizon and send it
back to Earth. Before going into detail
of this project, first let’s see what an Event Horizon is.
Event Horizon:
Event horizon is a boundary in space-time, beyond which the
events cannot affect the outside observer. Simply put, it is the boundary of no
returns. It is the boundary of the black hole, beyond which events are not
affected by the space time and once in this boundary, there’s no going
back. Event Horizon Telescope will
observe this boundary to help us study the nature of black holes.
Event Horizon Telescope:
As the name suggests, there’s a telescope which will observe
the event horizon. It is the biggest “virtual” telescope on Earth. But mind
you, it’s not an ordinary telescope. It consists of an array of telescopes which
are situated worldwide. These are radio
telescopes, connected over global network and they combine data from Very Long Baseline
Interferometry (VLBI). VLBI is a type of
astronomical interferometry. A signal such as quasar is combined from all the
radio telescopes. The distance between
the telescopes is calculated by calculating the time difference between which
the signals occurred.
Since 2006, EHT has gathered more and more concrete
information very year. The first image
of Sagittarius A* was supposed to be formed in April 2017. But due to certain
issues of the telescopes situated in the South Pole, it couldn’t happen. But soon we will be able to prove this. The
data is in and scientists are working on it. Astronomers predict that we’ll
soon be able to see the first image in 2018.
Hope this year will be the year in which we can prove the
existence of Einstein’s interstellar monsters. If it happens, it is going to be
a giant leap in the study of black holes. We’ll not learn about the Sagittarius
A* but also about Messier 87, which is even
larger black hole.
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