These panels show the first two images ever taken of black holes. (IMAGE)

Heriot-Watt University

These panels show the first two images ever taken of black holes.

Caption

On the left is M87*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), 55 million light-years away. On the right is Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way. The images, released in 2019 and 2022 respectively, were captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of radio telescopes forming a virtual Earth-sized telescope with an incredibly sharp angular resolution. Dr Akiyama developed one of the computational imaging algorithms and co-led the entire imaging team as part of the wider EHT Collaboration efforts to create these first images of black holes. This project “TomoGrav”, hosted by Heriot-Watt University, aims to deliver the first 3D movies of these two black holes by combining pioneering international expertise in black hole imaging with cutting-edge artificial intelligence developed in the UK.  

Credit

Credit: EHT Collaboration

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