Event Horizon Telescope on the verge of possibly obtaining first picture of a black hole - Polidicks

[QUOTE] They have built an Earth-sized "virtual telescope" by linking a large array of radio receivers - from the South Pole, to Hawaii, to the Americas and Europe. There is optimism that observations to be conducted during 5-14 April could finally deliver the long-sought prize. In the sights of the so-called "Event Horizon Telescope" will be the monster black hole at the centre of our galaxy. Although never seen directly, this object, catalogued as Sagittarius A*, has been determined to exist from the way it influences the orbits of nearby stars. These race around a point in space at many thousands of km per second, suggesting the hole likely has a mass of about four million times that of the Sun. But as colossal as that sounds, the "edge" of the black hole - the horizon inside which an immense gravity field traps all light - may be no more than 20 million km or so across. And at a distance of 26,000 light-years from Earth, this makes Sagittarius A* a tiny pinprick on the sky. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]The EHT's trick is a technique called very long baseline array interferometry (VLBI). This combines a network of widely spaced radio antennas to mimic a telescope aperture that can produce the resolution necessary to perceive a pinprick on the sky. The EHT is aiming initially to get down to 50 microarcseconds. Team-members talk in analogies, describing the sharpness of vision as being the equivalent of seeing something the size of a grapefruit on the surface of the Moon. They emphasise the still complex years of work ahead, but also trail the prospect of an imminent breakthrough. The scientists certainly have an expectation of what they ought to see, if successful. Simulations rooted in Einstein's equations predict a bright ring of light fringing a dark feature. The light would be the emission coming from gas and dust accelerated to high speed and torn apart just before disappearing into the hole. The dark feature would be the shadow the hole casts on this maelstrom. "Now, it could be that we will see something different," Doeleman said. "As I've said before, it's never a good idea to bet against Einstein, but if we did see something that was very different from what we expect we would have to reassess the theory of gravity. "I don't expect that is going to happen, but anything could happen and that's the beauty of it."[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38937141[/url] [url]https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/19/event-horizon-telescope-is-ready/[/url] A simulation of what they expect: [IMG]https://s.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/4fefb3b980d7df3e8b95ef7a28e30bcc/204957171/event-horizon-sim.jpg[/IMG]

Both of those simulation images looks like something out of a cosmic horror show.

They look like sick album covers. [editline]20th February 2017[/editline] Man, that's less than two months away too. I can't wait to see what they find.

For some reason I imagined that we'd see a small eye right in the center, staring back at us.

It would be pretty wild if when they get the image back it's something completely different to what they expect.

[QUOTE=GlebGuy;51851645]For some reason I imagined that we'd see a small eye right in the center, staring back at us.[/QUOTE] Looks like NASA is one step closer to finally finding Elvis. This guy is elusive as hell.

[QUOTE=ironman17;51851487]Both of those simulation images looks like something out of a horror show.[/QUOTE] They remind me of Giygas.

Black holes are so bizarre and amazing, it's almost as if the universe has a glitch that occurs when something grows too massive and dense

[QUOTE=Pinhead!;51851656]It would be pretty wild if when they get the image back it's something completely different to what they expect.[/QUOTE] I'd certainly hope not, because that would point to either Einstein being wrong, which has horrific consequences, or the array failing, which is also pretty bad (and more likely).

[QUOTE=Str4fe;51851680]Black holes are so bizarre and amazing[/QUOTE] interesting comment, given your avatar

Those simulated photos are beautifully terrifying

It still boggles my mind that we don't have any direct "images" of black holes after some 40 odd years of them being an accepted physical & mathematically correct theory. Fascinating stuff really.

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51851885]It still boggles my mind that we don't have any direct "images" of black holes after some 40 odd years of them being an accepted physical & mathematically correct theory. Fascinating stuff really.[/QUOTE] kinda hard to photograph something that, you know, literally sucks all the light

[QUOTE=Saturn V;51852004]kinda hard to photograph something that, you know, literally sucks all the light[/QUOTE] Hence why I said "image" in quotes. I understand that, but I'm more surprised that we haven't even seen any direct gravitational lensing.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;51851752]I'd certainly hope not, because that would point to either Einstein being wrong, which has horrific consequences[/QUOTE] why is einstein being incorrect scary? I know nothing about astronomy or physics so I apologize if it's a dumb question

[QUOTE=Johnny Joe;51852221]why is einstein being incorrect scary? I know nothing about astronomy or physics so I apologize if it's a dumb question[/QUOTE] The entire basis of modern astrophysics is kaput

[QUOTE=Johnny Joe;51852221]why is einstein being incorrect scary? I know nothing about astronomy or physics so I apologize if it's a dumb question[/QUOTE] good 40 years of research down the crapper?

[QUOTE=T-hunter;51852241]good 40 years of research down the crapper?[/QUOTE] On the bright side, we wouldnt do another 40 years of it if that was the case

Its not too far off from what Interstellar shows

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51851885]It still boggles my mind that we don't have any direct "images" of black holes after some 40 odd years of them being an accepted physical & mathematically correct theory. Fascinating stuff really.[/QUOTE] Even though all it would look like is background stars being distorted by gravitational lensing it would still be a pretty amazing sight. Something like this perhaps. [IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Black_hole_lensing_web.gif/220px-Black_hole_lensing_web.gif[/IMG] Too excited for the James Webb Space Telescope, one and a half more years man.

What if we look inside and all that there is is just a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope and all we can see in that telescope is a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope and all we can see in that telescope is a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope an-[B] LIBERATE TUTAMET EX INFERIS[/B]

[QUOTE=Str4fe;51851680]Black holes are so bizarre and amazing, it's almost as if the universe has a glitch that occurs when something grows too massive and dense[/QUOTE] our reality is a simulation

Sounds like its basically an extension of the VLBA, maybe including various types of antennas? Will be cool to see what they can resolve once it is fully operational.

[QUOTE=DOCTOR LIGHT;51852575]What if we look inside and all that there is is just a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope and all we can see in that telescope is a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope and all we can see in that telescope is a look back at our own planet and down our own telescope an-[B] LIBERATE TUTAMET EX INFERIS[/B][/QUOTE] [I]Oh no [/I] [t]https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2zPjDfB1--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/tvmkf2763m3hznxlyixs.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;51851885]It still boggles my mind that we don't have any direct "images" of black holes after some 40 odd years of them being an accepted physical & mathematically correct theory. Fascinating stuff really.[/QUOTE] Black holes are extremely small. A black hole with the same mass as the sun (impossible because there's not enough mass, but still) would only be 4 miles, or 6 kilometres, across. So you'd be talking about trying to find and visually image objects out there in the universe that are only as large as how far away the nearest Starbucks is to your home.

It literally looks like the opening sequence to the Strain. [t]http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/the-strain-mondo-poster.jpg[/t]

I wonder if anything ever looks back

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;51851752]I'd certainly hope not, because that would point to either Einstein being wrong, which has horrific consequences, or the array failing, which is also pretty bad (and more likely).[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=CakeMaster7;51852233]The entire basis of modern astrophysics is kaput[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=T-hunter;51852241]good 40 years of research down the crapper?[/QUOTE] What's up with all of these weird replies? Einstein can still have been ultimately wrong (in fact, my understanding of the situation is that most people in the physics community working on foundational physics argue that he was) without it being a huge deal. Nothing, well at least nothing that you guys are alluding to, is going to go down the drain; astrophysics and cosmology will likely be largely unchanged except for in the most exceptional of cases (early universe cosmology, black holes, [I]etc.[/I]). The precession of the perihelion of Mercury's orbit isn't going to suddenly change because, "Einstein was wrong". Despite it being almost certainly true that general relativity is fundamentally an approximation to some far more foundational theory it still works in all but the most extreme cases, just as Newtonian mechanics still works for all intents and purposes in our day-to-day lives even though we know that it's merely the limiting case to more fundamental theories (GR with low velocity and minimal spacetime curvature becomes Newtonian mechanics, and quantum theory yields Newtonian predictions in the correspondence limit). Einstein having developed an effective theory to something more fundamental isn't going to taint the achievements of general relativity, and it certainly isn't going to undo all of the progress that has been made in the last century.

[QUOTE=TheRealFierce;51851458][url]http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38937141[/url] [url]https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/19/event-horizon-telescope-is-ready/[/url] A simulation of what they expect: [IMG]https://s.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/4fefb3b980d7df3e8b95ef7a28e30bcc/204957171/event-horizon-sim.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Ah, the ring of fire. Of course black holes send your soul straight to hell... [editline]21st February 2017[/editline] If God had been a little funnier he'd have put a ring on it for the full goatse.cx.

[QUOTE=BF;51852639]Black holes are extremely small. A black hole with the same mass as the sun (impossible because there's not enough mass, but still) would only be 4 miles, or 6 kilometres, across. So you'd be talking about trying to find and visually image objects out there in the universe that are only as large as how far away the nearest Starbucks is to your home.[/QUOTE] You might be thinking about neutron stars. Black holes have no physical size, however the diameter of the event horizon on the largest known black holes in the universe is about 30 times the size of our solar system. Also a black hole the same mass as the sun would be very tiny, in fact the standard unit of measurement for a black hole is the mass of the sun.