r/spaceporn Apr 10 '19

First ever real image of a black hole

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u/tobascodagama Apr 10 '19

No, but the team behind this image also plans to image Sag A* when they can. And they might have even more telescopes networked together by then, which would mean even higher resolution!

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u/missle636 Apr 10 '19

They said they are currently already processing the Sag A* data.

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u/0818 Apr 10 '19

Isn't resolution limited by the longest distance between any two telescopes? I thought they had already maxed that out.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 10 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

I was under the impression that you can't image it because of how dense our galaxy center is, with too much visual noise to get a clear shot. Am I mistaken?

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u/Froot-Loop-Dingus Apr 10 '19

This is my understanding as well. I’m just a layman/amateur astrophotographer though so I could certainly have it wrong.

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u/CapWasRight Apr 10 '19

Not a problem at these wavelengths.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

Wouldn't the galactic noise (dust, gas, stars, rubble) also emit many different wavelengths that would interfere with a good image across the spectrum?

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u/Aurailious Apr 10 '19

Some wavelengths are blocked more than others. This is why JWST is a infrared telescope instead of a visible one like Hubble. Infrared is also hard to see through our own atmosphere.

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u/uprightcaesar Apr 10 '19 edited Apr 11 '19

Um, the SPT WAS used in the imaging of M87. The EHT team modified it for the project... or so was stated in the reveal presentation.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

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u/uprightcaesar Apr 11 '19 edited Apr 11 '19

I literally watched the live stream of the conference where the image was released. Ten minutes was spent talking about the telescopes used, including the modifications made to the SPT, SPECIFICALLY for the use of M87.

So, are you calling the professor who spoke on this, AT the conference, a liar?

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/uprightcaesar Apr 11 '19

Weird flex, but okay.

It's rather misleading, then, for every single article that discusses the imaging of M87's black hole to mention the SPT during the listing of which telescopes were used.

It's also rather misleading for the SPT to be included in the presentation of which telescopes were used, BY the scientists who headed up the EHT Project.

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm simply saying its... well... rather misleading.

Think about it from a layman's point of view... not everybody is a scientist. Not everybody is a radio astronomer. I mean for fucks sake, we've got people alive TODAY that believe the Earth is flat. Factoring that into the equation, it really brings down the average amount of common sense and willingness to learn in an individual today. I.e. most people aren't going to realize where in the night sky M87 is.

So as the people representing the EHT Project, when they say, "heres a picture. It was taken by the EHT. The EHT is comprised of 8 telescopes, including the SPT..." but make no mention of "Oh by the way, we didn't use the SPT for THIS image, but we'll use it for future imaging" ... it really doesnt give any sort of hint at all that the SPT was not involved in this image; youd think that would be an important fact to mention... at the reveal... of the black hole image.

As a matter of fact, as the panel of scientists revealed M87's center, they made a point of talking about all the extra hardware that needed to be added to the SPT, along with the hardships and dangers of making multiple trips down there during bad weather. ...yet still never said "but we didn't use it for this image."

Do you see where I'm coming from now?

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/uprightcaesar Apr 11 '19

A simple, "No, I dont understand where you are coming from" would have sufficed.

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u/HighYogi Apr 10 '19

They mentioned a higher resolution image would be possible with more telescopes or an improved algorithm. Think it has to do with this image being the average of the combined data.

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u/0818 Apr 10 '19

You can't improve resolution after the fact, it's set by the maximum distance between any two telescopes.

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u/HighYogi Apr 11 '19

https://youtu.be/lnJi0Jy692w This was in the Q&A at 40:40

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u/CeruleanRuin Apr 11 '19

Would it be possible to network in orbital telescopes too?

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u/daneb5 Apr 10 '19

ENHANCE!