Global Telescope Network Aims to Capture Black Hole "Flickers"
Scientists behind the 1st black hole image are building a global telescope network to film black holes. This "movie" will capture how these cosmic giants change, revealing secrets about gravity and the universe's behavior.
On a clear, starlit night, far from the luminous intrusions of modern civilization, a group of scientists gathered at the UNAM Astronomical Observatory in San Pedro Mártir, Baja California. These astronomers and physicists, with their eyes trained on the heavens and their minds firmly anchored in the realm of theoretical astrophysics, are part of an audacious quest. Their mission? To transform our understanding of the most enigmatic and powerful objects in the universe: black holes.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, a global network of synchronized radio dishes, famously captured the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019. This feat, heralded as a scientific breakthrough of the decade, provided humanity with an unprecedented glimpse of the shadowy maw at the heart of galaxy M87. But the EHT team, led by the visionary Sheperd Doeleman, has grander ambitions. They plan to make "movies" of black holes, revealing their dynamic behavior over time.