Question #31 – Can scientists photograph a black hole?

Answer:

On April 10, 2019, astronomers revealed an image that showed the outline of the contours of a super massive black hole, located in the constellation of Virgo, the Maiden. This image was not taken by a single telescope, but by 8 arrays of radio telescopes located in Hawaii, North America, Europe, South America and the South Pole. This world-wide network of radio telescopes is called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

You can learn more about the super-massive black hole in Virgo at the Event Horizon Telescope web site.

Photograph of the super-massive black hole in M87
Photo credit: EHT