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efforts that had made the imaging of Bhattacharyya, Associate Profes- centennial year of the historic experi-
the black hole possible. sor at Tata Institute of Fundamental ment that first confirmed the theory.
“No one algorithm or person made Research (TIFR), Mumbai. “If we can “Seeing is believing, and this is, by
this image, it required the amazing tal- directly see that there is something far, the most direct proof that black
ent of a team of scientists from around black in the background of light — holes exist,” said Poshak Gandhi, an
the globe and years of hard work to that is an incredible thing. That would Associate Professor at the UK-based
develop the instrument, data process- be the direct proof of blackholes,” a University of Southampton’’s Astron-
ing, imaging methods, and analysis PTI report quoted Bhattacharyya as omy Group. “The results by the Event
techniques that were necessary to saying. Horizon Telescope (EHT) team also
pull off this seemingly impossible feat,” The breakthrough was announced represent years of truly global coop-
said Bouman. in a series of six papers published in eration,” said Mr Gandhi, who comes
a special issue of The Astrophysical from New Delhi.
Scientists react Journal Letters. “The unveiling of M87 Black holes are extraordinary cos-
Indian scientists have praised the shadow is a tremendous achievement mic objects with enormous masses
compilation of the first-ever real by Event Horizon Telescope and it but extremely compact sizes. The
images of a blackhole as an “extraor- provided by first independent esti- presence of these objects affects their
dinary feat” that sheds more light on mate for the mass of the giant black- environment in extreme ways, warp-
the mysterious, warped region of the hole in M87,” Achamveedu Gopaku- ing spacetime and super-heating any
space-time fabric and how galaxies surrounding material. “These are a
like our Milky Way evolve over time. class of supermassive blackholes that
Blackhole, an object with such strong Bouman was among have a billion times the mass of the
gravity that not even light can escape Sun,” said theoretical physicist Rajesh
it, has fuelled human imagination and a team of 200 Gopakumar, Director of the Interna-
inspired numerous sci-fi movies and researchers who tional Centre for Theoretical Sciences
literature for generations. (ICTS-TIFR), Bengaluru.
Researchers at The Event Hori- contributed to the “It is a remarkable breakthrough
zon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale breakthrough, but because one has had indirect confir-
array of eight ground-based radio tel- mation for a long time about black-
escopes forged through international on April 10, a picture holes, but this is a different category
collaboration — unveiled the first di- of her triumphantly of blackholes which are massive,” Mr
rect visual evidence of a supermassive Gopakumar was quoted as saying
blackhole and its shadow. The image beaming as the image by a news agency. “These had always
reveals the black hole at the centre of the black hole been guessed as there was indirect
of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the evidence but this the first time we can
nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. materialised on her sharply see matter around it, how that
This black hole resides 55 million is behaving and so on. These central
light-years from Earth and has a mass computer went viral powerhouse of the galaxies will tell
6.5 billion times that of the Sun. “We us how the galaxies like our Milky
have taken the first picture of a black mar, an associate professor at TIFR Way will evolve over time a long time,”
hole,” Event Horizon Telescope pro- told PTI. he said.
ject director Sheperd S Doeleman of “These results showed that the first Multiple calibration and imaging
the Centre for Astrophysics at Har- direct observational proof (photo) of methods have revealed a ring-like
vard and Smithsonian announced. the event horizon and its size is com- structure with a dark central region —
“This is an extraordinary scientific feat parable to the size of the solar sys- the blackhole’s shadow — that persist-
accomplished by a team of more tem,” said Gopakumar, who is a part ed over multiple independent Event
than 200 researchers.” Mr Doeleman of Event Horizon Telescope’s effort Horizon Telescope observations.
said. to image a massive black hole binary “Going forward, new data should
Several Indian physicists spoke (candidate) emitting nano-Hertz grav- allow astronomers to test Einstein’s
about the significance and history itational waves, called OJ 287. relativity theory in great detail, to
made by the discovery. “This is the first The Event Horizon Telescope is the understand how plasma accretes
direct evidence of a black hole. That result of years of international col- onto, and is ejected from, black hole
way, it is a game changer. Now there laboration, and offers scientists a new environments at speeds close to that
is no doubt at all about its existence. way to study the most extreme objects of light,” Gandhi added.
Earlier we had 99 per cent evidence, in the universe predicted by Albert
now it is hundred per cent,” said Sudip Einstein’s general relativity during the letters@tehelka.com

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