Prepare to have your perception of cosmic villains challenged! Astronomers are on the brink of capturing the first-ever moving image of a supermassive black hole, potentially revealing a whole new side to these enigmatic giants.
For years, black holes have been portrayed as the ultimate destroyers of the cosmos. But what if there's more to the story? The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is gearing up to observe the colossal black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy throughout March and April. Their goal? To create a movie of the swirling disc that outlines the event horizon – the point of no return.
"The movie campaign is truly revolutionary," explains Sera Markoff, the newly appointed Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a founding member of the EHT consortium. "It's not just technologically groundbreaking; it will accelerate our scientific understanding by an order of magnitude."
But here's where it gets controversial... The team hopes to gain a better understanding of how quickly black holes rotate and how they launch powerful jets of energy. These are key questions that have puzzled scientists for years.
Black holes often get a bad rap as "evil vacuum cleaners," as Markoff puts it. However, scientists increasingly recognize their crucial role in the early universe and the evolution of galaxies. "To me, they represent the edge of our understanding of our universe, and they are endlessly fascinating. They actually play a very important role in the ecosystem of the universe.”
The EHT is a global network of 12 radio telescopes scattered across the globe, from Antarctica to Spain and Korea. In 2019, they unveiled the first-ever image of a black hole's shadow. During the upcoming observations, the Earth's rotation will allow different telescopes to view M87's central black hole, capturing a complete image every three days.
The black hole's immense scale – with a mass equivalent to 6 billion suns and spanning an area similar to our solar system – allows for these snapshots to be combined into a moving sequence.
And this is the part most people miss... Measuring the black hole's spin speed is crucial. It could help differentiate between competing theories about how these objects reached such enormous sizes. If black holes primarily grow by accumulating nearby material, they should be spinning incredibly fast. Conversely, if they grow through mergers with other black holes, each collision could slow them down.
The observations could also shed light on the formation of black hole jets, which are among the most powerful structures in galaxies. These jets channel vast amounts of gas out of galaxies, impacting star formation and galaxy growth. In turn, this can trigger bursts of star formation beyond the host galaxy.
"M87 is launching these enormous jets that punch through the entire galaxy," Markoff notes. "They can change the entire evolution of the galaxy and even surrounding galaxies."
While the observations will take place in the spring, the sheer volume of data means scientists will have to wait until the Antarctic summer to physically ship the hard drives to Germany and the US for processing. So, the world will likely have to wait a while to see the black hole in action.
Markoff, who was appointed as the 17th Plumian professor in December, hopes to inspire more people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue careers in science. The position, one of the oldest named professorships in the world, was established by Sir Isaac Newton in 1704.
"I didn’t come from a scientific or academic family, so my interest in astrophysics really just came from reading science fiction and comic books," she shares. "Given that I thought I would go to art school, it was quite an odd thing for me to be interested in, but these books exposed me to the ideas of black holes and instilled a desire to explore the universe. I was also lucky enough to have many supportive teachers, but I never seriously thought that I would be able to go into a career like this. Now I like to joke that I do sci-fi for a living.”
What do you think? Are black holes misunderstood cosmic wonders, or do they deserve their reputation as destroyers? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
