What was the biggest challenge in imaging a black hole?

The biggest obstacle in getting the image was diffraction. Another problem was that the gas circling the event horizon (i.e., the black part) is spinning exceptionally quickly. It takes very high resolution instruments to pick up such rapid motion.

What’s the big deal about black holes?

The biggest black hole discovered so far weighs in at 40 billion times the mass of the Sun, or 20 times the size of the solar system. Like all black holes, the huge ones are shielded from view by an event horizon. At their centers is a singularity, a point in space where the density is infinite.

Why was taking a picture of a black hole so difficult?

A black hole forms when matter is compressed into a volume so small that its gravity becomes too intense for anything, even light, to escape. However, on account of being very far away, these behemoths are as difficult to image as stellar-mass black holes in our own neighbourhood.

What are some of the effects that occur near black holes?

To a distant observer, clocks near a black hole would appear to tick more slowly than those further away from the black hole. Due to this effect, known as gravitational time dilation, an object falling into a black hole appears to slow as it approaches the event horizon, taking an infinite time to reach it.

How are supermassive black holes formed?

One possible mechanism for the formation of supermassive black holes involves a chain reaction of collisions of stars in compact star clusters that results in the buildup of extremely massive stars, which then collapse to form intermediate-mass black holes. The star clusters then sink to the center of the galaxy,…

What causes a star to become a black hole?

Stellar black holes form when the center of a very massive star collapses in upon itself. This collapse also causes a supernova, or an exploding star, that blasts part of the star into space.

What’s so special about this super-rare black hole?

And from that event, they’ve detected something even more special — a super-rare type of black hole . The result of the collision is an “intermediate-mass” black hole, with a mass between 100 and 1,000 times that of the sun. It’s the first one that has ever been found, scientists said.

Can we see black holes in space?

Some black holes are a result of dying stars. Because no light can escape, black holes are invisible. However, space telescopes with special instruments can help find black holes. They can observe the behavior of material and stars that are very close to black holes.