An international scientific team is expected to unveil a landmark achievement in astrophysics – the first photo of a black hole – on Wednesday.
Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration will present a “groundbreaking result” from the project on April 10, according to a media advisory.
Anticipation is building ahead of the event, which will feature simultaneous press conferences in cities across the world and live streams in different languages.
What is a black hole?
Black holes are collapsed stars with gravity so strong that even light cannot escape their grasp. One of the black holes we’re expecting to get a glimpse of this week – known as Sagittarius A – is the “supermassive” one that’s at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Supermassive black holes are millions to billions times more massive than our sun, and appear to be in the center of almost all galaxies, the National Science Foundation said.
Astronomers this week are also expected to release images of another supermassive black hole, one that’s 53.5 million light-years away.
News conferences are set in Washington, Brussels, Santiago, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo to disclose a “groundbreaking result” from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, begun in 2012 to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole using a global network of telescopes.
