Zooming in to the Heart of Messier 87
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. In coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers revealed that they succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. This zoom video starts with a view of ALMA and zooms in on the heart of M87, showing successively more detailed observations and culminating in the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole’s shadow.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, Digitized Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, RadioAstron, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., EHT Collaboration. Music: Niklas Falcke
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. In coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers revealed that they succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole and its shadow. This 17-minute film explores the efforts that led to this historic image, from the science of Einstein and Schwarzschild to the struggles and successes of the EHT collaboration.
Credit: ESO Directed by: Lars Lindberg Christensen Art Direction, Production Design: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Sarah Leach, Laura Hiscott, Lars Lindberg Christensen and Calum Turner
3D animations and graphics: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada Editing: Martin Kornmesser
Producer: Herbert Zodet Music: Johan B. Monell – Shadow of the Universe Part I-Shadow Of The Universe (parts 1-5) (www.johanmonell.com) and Stellardrone – Galaxies. Footage and photos: ESO, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), IRAM/Diverticimes/Cinedia, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, BlackHoleCam/Radboud University/Cristian Afker/Cafker Productions, Digitized Sky Survey 2, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., mediomix, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/General Dynamics C4 Systems, Nicolle R. Fuller/NSF, Jordy Davelaar et al., B. Tafreshi (twanight.org), C. Malin (christophmalin.com), Glen Petitpas/SMA,P. Horálek, James Lowenthal (Dept. of Astronomy, Smith College), J. Weintroub, SMT/Used with permission from University of Arizona, David Harvey, photographer, William Montgomerie/JCMT/EAO,LMT/INAOE Archive, M. Druckmüller, P. Aniol SMT/University of Arizona by Bob Demers /©2019 Arizona Board of Regents, Junhan Kim (Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, University of Arizona), Spaceengine.org, L. Calçada, Y. Beletsky (LCO), M. Kornmesser, H. Zodet, ESA/Hubble,Onsala Space Observatory, Historische Museum Bern/Albert-Einstein-Archiv, Jerusalem, Ferdinand Schmutzer, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Jonathan Riley,Luca Micheli, Karl Schwarzschild image courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Afshin Darian/The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Submillimeter Array, Thalia Traianou (Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy), Steven H. Keys and http://www.keysphotography.com, and Robert Schwarz (www.antarctic-adventures.de). Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova. Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.