An inside look at unique careers in STEMIn each installment of our “10 Questions” blog series, readers will meet a staff member from AUI or one of its managed facilities, gaining insight into their career journey, what their role involves and what makes their work...
Recent News
Cosmic Cocktail: Exotic Methanol Discovered in Planet-Building Zones
New results from the ALMA COMPASS Large Program (Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys) show that young, still-forming stars are surrounded by a surprisingly sophisticated “chemical starter kit”, including organic molecules such as methanol that may one day enrich planets.
Proctor Foundation for Art and Science Offers Stellar Guitar to Space Camp Auction
To celebrate the Inspiration4 Mission’s 5th Anniversary, mission pilot Dr. Sian Proctor is choosing to celebrate in a fitting way — raising funds to send community college students and faculty to Space Camp.
Radio Astronomy and Black Holes
How a Telescope Made Mostly of Nothing Became Astronomy’s ‘Killer App’
Astronomers have captured the first direct visual evidence of a black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87), a giant elliptical galaxy 55 million light-years
from Earth. This unprecedented observation was made possible by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array of eight individual radio telescopes spread over four continents and linked together to form a new, exceptionally powerful telescope. The newly released image reveals a glowing ring-like structure with a dark central region — a feature known as the “shadow” of a black hole.
As the most sensitive and largest element of the EHT, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile was instrumental in making this observation possible. With ALMA, the EHT achieved one of the highest resolutions ever in astronomy, 20 microarcseconds. A microarcseconds is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence if you were looking from the Moon. These observations will help scientists understand how the universe behaves under conditions of extreme gravity, forces so strong that they warp the fabric of space and time. This is just the latest step in a journey that began nearly 50 years ago with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) Green Bank Interferometer: the first telescope to identify and locate the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The EHT is a turbo-powered version of that pioneering telescope.
The full EHT story, including background on black holes and supporting materials can be found at the National Science Foundation’s special section: “Exploring Black Holes.”
NRAO Contacts:
Kazunori Akiyama
The NRAO Jansky fellow at MIT Haystack Observatory who developed new imaging techniques for the EHT and led international efforts to create the first images of the supermassive black hole in M87 as a coordinator of the imaging group.
617-715-5579; [email protected]
Charles E. Blue
Public Information Officer
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
434-296-0314; [email protected]
Recent News
10 Questions: Desmond Wysenyuy
An inside look at unique careers in STEMIn each installment of our “10 Questions” blog series, readers will meet a staff member from AUI or one of its managed facilities, gaining insight into their career journey, what their role involves and what makes their work...
Cosmic Cocktail: Exotic Methanol Discovered in Planet-Building Zones
New results from the ALMA COMPASS Large Program (Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys) show that young, still-forming stars are surrounded by a surprisingly sophisticated “chemical starter kit”, including organic molecules such as methanol that may one day enrich planets.
Proctor Foundation for Art and Science Offers Stellar Guitar to Space Camp Auction
To celebrate the Inspiration4 Mission’s 5th Anniversary, mission pilot Dr. Sian Proctor is choosing to celebrate in a fitting way — raising funds to send community college students and faculty to Space Camp.