Astronomers have now recorded the black hole M87 *, which became famous for its photo in 2019, for the first time in all areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Here you can see three of these pictures.
The black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, 55 million light years away, is probably the best known of its kind. In April 2019, astronomers presented his portrait as the first photograph of a black hole. It was recorded with the worldwide Event Horizon telescope network. It showed the bright ring of light of the matter circling around the event horizon and in the middle the dark shadow of the 6.5 million solar mass black hole.
Now the astronomers of the Event Horizon Collaboration, together with partners in 32 countries and 19 observatories, have succeeded in taking the next step: For the first time they have mapped the black hole M87 * and its jet made of high-energy particles and radiation in the entire range of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is the largest simultaneous observation campaign ever carried out for a supermassive black hole using jets.
“We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking,” says Kazuhiro Hada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. “But to get the most out of this remarkable picture, we need to know all about the behavior of the black hole at that time by making observations across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.”
The first multi-frequency data on such a gravity giant now provide an unprecedented insight into the features and mechanisms around a black hole. “This unique data set is crucial for our understanding of the physical conditions in the immediate vicinity of one of the most massive black holes in our cosmic neighborhood,” says Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.
The knowledge gained from these recordings could also help to subject Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity to even more precise tests. In addition, the astronomers hope to gain more information about the origin and mechanisms of formation of the high-energy cosmic radiation, because it is also likely generated in the vicinity of black holes.