Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/041/10
By: Lee Hsin-Yin
This image shows a ring of light around a black hole at the heart of Messier 87, a massive galaxy some 55 million light-years from Earth. The image, which was released by an international astronomical project in which Taiwan has been participating, is the first direct visual evidence of a black hole. Photo courtesy of Academia Sinica April 10, 2019
Taipei, April 10 (CNA) An international astronomical project, in which Taiwan has been participating, on Wednesday released the world’s first picture of a black hole, a region of space with a gravitational field so intense that not even light can escape.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observation campaign, comprising 13 research units from around the world, including Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, captured the image in the heart of the massive distant galaxy Messier 87, some 55 million light-years from Earth.
Astronomers capture first Image of a black hole at the heart of distant galaxy Messier 87
CNA photo April 10, 2019
The black hole, one in category known as supermassive, has a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun.
“This (photo) is a pioneering find in the study of black hole astro-physics,” said Keiichi Asada, an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica and a science council member of the EHT who has been directly involved in the global project to capture the image.
[FULL STORY]
