Observations of Black Hole M87* data captured by Event Horizon telescope (EHT) in 2018 show persistent shadow of the black hole | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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Observations of Black Hole M87* data captured by Event Horizon telescope (EHT) in 2018 show persistent shadow of the black hole

Posted 13 Feb 2024

Updated 22 Mar 2024

2 min read

  • The 2018 observations revealed a familiar shadow of the same size EHT found in 2017, when it took the first image of a black hole. 
  • A black hole is an astronomical object with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it.
    • Black hole’s gravitation pull becomes this strong at the Event Horizon, the boundary from within which a particle cannot escape.
    • Event horizon captures any light passing through it, and the distorted space-time around it causes light to be redirected through gravitational lensing
      • These two effects produce a dark zone that astronomers refer to as the event horizon shadow.
  • Gravitational Lensing occurs when a massive celestial body such as a galaxy cluster causes a sufficient curvature of spacetime for the path of light around it to be visibly bent, as if by a lens. 
    • The body causing the light to curve is accordingly called a gravitational lens.
    • It is an observable example of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
  • According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, time and space are fused together in a quantity known as spacetime.
    • Massive objects cause spacetime to curve and gravity is simply the curvature of spacetime. 
    • As light travels through spacetime, the path taken by light will also be curved by an object’s mass.

 

Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)

  • It is a network of synchronized radio observatories around the world that combine as a single telescope with an aperture the size of Earth used to observe sources of radio light associated with black holes.
  • It links radio telescopes across the globe to create an Earth-sized interferometer using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).
  • Presently, no Indian radio telescope is part of EHT.  
  • Tags :
  • Black Hole M87*
  • Event Horizon telescope (EHT)
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