A Historic Breakthrough: The First Image of a Black Hole
It is an honor to be here today to share with you a groundbreaking achievement that will change our understanding of the universe forever. We are on the cusp of a major breakthrough, one that will revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and cement humanity's place in the annals of scientific history.
This momentous occasion marks the culmination of a century-long dream conceived by none other than Albert Einstein himself. In 1915, Einstein envisioned a phenomenon where a massive weight would warp geometry, creating a mysterious hole that could not be traversed. He correctly predicted that as this weight became too great, it would create a void in space-time where nothing could escape its gravitational pull. Today, we are proud to say that we have finally captured an image of this enigmatic phenomenon.
The History of Science: A New Era
We believe deeply in the freedom of science and the power of human intuition. Scientists are the ones who make the choices that shape the course of our understanding, not politicians. As Stephen Hawking once said, "It is sad that facts are sometimes stranger than fiction." Black holes are a perfect example of this. They are a phenomenon so bizarre that it defies science fiction and instead, becomes a matter of scientific fact.
The Discovery of M87
Our journey began 101 years ago, when someone discovered a streak of light shooting out of the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This marked the presence of a supermassive black hole at its core. Over the years, we have come to realize that this black hole was not just any ordinary one, but rather a behemoth of cosmic proportions.
We have been working tirelessly with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project, which consists of a network of radio telescopes around the world. In April 2017, all the dishes in the EHT swiveled towards a galaxy called Messier 87 (M87), located 55 million light-years away. This was a groundbreaking moment, as we were finally able to gaze upon the shadow of a black hole.
The Image: A Breakthrough Achievement
And so, after years of anticipation and tireless efforts, we are proud to present our achievement. The image you see before you is the first-ever picture of a black hole. It is a remarkable sight, capturing the essence of an event horizon, where nothing can escape its gravitational pull. We have taken great care to ensure that this image meets the highest standards of scientific accuracy.
The Significance of the Image
This breakthrough is more than just an achievement; it marks the beginning of a new era in our understanding of the universe. The shape and size of the black hole, which we now know weighs 6.5 billion times what our Sun does, provide us with strong evidence for its existence. Moreover, this image allows us to study black holes in unprecedented detail.
The Bright Patch: A Window into the Past
In the south region of the image, we can observe a bright patch that tells us about the material moving around the black hole at incredible speeds. This is consistent with our simulations and predictions, providing further confirmation of our understanding of this phenomenon.
A New Link: Black Holes and Galaxies
The discovery of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies has revolutionized our understanding of large-scale structure in the universe. We now know that these behemoths play a crucial role in shaping the cosmos around us.
Studying General Relativity and Black Holes
This breakthrough marks an entirely new chapter in our study of general relativity and black holes. With this image, we have access to an unprecedented level of detail, allowing us to probe the mysteries of these cosmic phenomena like never before.
As with all great discoveries, this is just the beginning. We are excited to continue exploring the universe and unraveling its secrets, one image at a time.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthank you very much it's a great honor to be here today we really about to announce a huge breakthrough for Humanity we are about to take a picture a picture of something that one man one man alone dreamt imagine 100 years ago in 1915 Albert Einstein imagined that this idea that a very big weight transforms geometry but when the mass is too heavy you make a hole a mysterious hole where nothing can get out of it where all it's absorbed Michael Kramer here from the ERC said the history of science will be divided into the time before the image and the time after the image we believe deeply in the freedom of science we believe that scientists are the ones to make the choices that the choices of science are not done by politicians we believe somehow in the intuition of science Stephen Hawking once said something that I would like to finish these words today we do with this excitement of us he said it is sad that facts are sometimes stranger than fiction and nowhere this is more true than in the case of black holes black holes are stranger than anything dreamt up by science fiction writers but they are firmly matters of science fact and so this big moment is shared with so many in the public so many today here and I want to invite all the team and for that professor Heine Falcon is here we will join him and veiling the image so professor please come and I'll go still have to we are looking into space into towards the galaxy a giant galaxy 500 billion billion light years away from us sorry five hundred billion billion kilometers away from us very big galaxy was which was suspected to host a supermassive black hole in the very center 101 years ago someone discovered a streak of light which is plasma shooting out of the center of the Milky Way marking the supermassive black hole I never believed that this black hole was as big as people said until we saw that this is the nucleus of the galaxy m87 and this is the first ever image of a black hole in April of 2017 all the dishes in the event horizon telescope swiveled turned and stared at a galaxy 55 million light-years away it's called Messier 87 or M 87 and there's a supermassive black hole at its core and we are delighted to be able to report to you today that we have seen what we thought was unseeable we have seen and taken a picture of a black hole here it is this is a remarkable achievement what you're seeing here is the last photon orbit what you are seeing is evidence of an event horizon by laying a ruler across this black hole we now have visual evidence for a black hole we now know that a black hole that weighs 6.5 billion times what our Sun does exists in the center of m87 and this is the strongest evidence that we have to date for the existence of black holes and it is also consistent the shape of this shadow to the precision of our measurements with Einstein's predictions the bright patch in the south the UC tells us that material moving around the black hole is moving at light speeds which is also consistent with our simulations and predictions and this image forges a clear link now between supermassive black holes and the engines of bright galaxies we now know clearly that black holes drive large-scale structure in the universe from their home in these galaxies and we now have an entirely new way of studying general relativity and black holes that we never had before and as with all great discoveries this is just the beginningthank you very much it's a great honor to be here today we really about to announce a huge breakthrough for Humanity we are about to take a picture a picture of something that one man one man alone dreamt imagine 100 years ago in 1915 Albert Einstein imagined that this idea that a very big weight transforms geometry but when the mass is too heavy you make a hole a mysterious hole where nothing can get out of it where all it's absorbed Michael Kramer here from the ERC said the history of science will be divided into the time before the image and the time after the image we believe deeply in the freedom of science we believe that scientists are the ones to make the choices that the choices of science are not done by politicians we believe somehow in the intuition of science Stephen Hawking once said something that I would like to finish these words today we do with this excitement of us he said it is sad that facts are sometimes stranger than fiction and nowhere this is more true than in the case of black holes black holes are stranger than anything dreamt up by science fiction writers but they are firmly matters of science fact and so this big moment is shared with so many in the public so many today here and I want to invite all the team and for that professor Heine Falcon is here we will join him and veiling the image so professor please come and I'll go still have to we are looking into space into towards the galaxy a giant galaxy 500 billion billion light years away from us sorry five hundred billion billion kilometers away from us very big galaxy was which was suspected to host a supermassive black hole in the very center 101 years ago someone discovered a streak of light which is plasma shooting out of the center of the Milky Way marking the supermassive black hole I never believed that this black hole was as big as people said until we saw that this is the nucleus of the galaxy m87 and this is the first ever image of a black hole in April of 2017 all the dishes in the event horizon telescope swiveled turned and stared at a galaxy 55 million light-years away it's called Messier 87 or M 87 and there's a supermassive black hole at its core and we are delighted to be able to report to you today that we have seen what we thought was unseeable we have seen and taken a picture of a black hole here it is this is a remarkable achievement what you're seeing here is the last photon orbit what you are seeing is evidence of an event horizon by laying a ruler across this black hole we now have visual evidence for a black hole we now know that a black hole that weighs 6.5 billion times what our Sun does exists in the center of m87 and this is the strongest evidence that we have to date for the existence of black holes and it is also consistent the shape of this shadow to the precision of our measurements with Einstein's predictions the bright patch in the south the UC tells us that material moving around the black hole is moving at light speeds which is also consistent with our simulations and predictions and this image forges a clear link now between supermassive black holes and the engines of bright galaxies we now know clearly that black holes drive large-scale structure in the universe from their home in these galaxies and we now have an entirely new way of studying general relativity and black holes that we never had before and as with all great discoveries this is just the beginning\n"
