With its location in Europe and its extraordinary sensitivity, this telescope played a decisive role in the success of EHT observation. IRAM, an institution co-financed by the Max Planck Society, actively participated in the campaign with its 30-meter telescope. 'As early as the 1990s, the Max Planck Institute in Bonn and our institute with its two observatories demonstrated both technically and scientifically that we have a unique method with high-resolution radio observations to analyze the immediate surroundings of supermassive black holes. Zensus said it was remarkable that in this project astronomical observations and theoretical interpretations led faster than expected to the expected result.Īccording to IRAM Director Karl Schuster, the success is based on 'decades of European expertise' in millimeter astronomy. 'For the first time, the results give us a clear view of a supermassive black hole and mark an important milestone in our understanding of the fundamental processes that determine the formation and evolution of galaxies in the universe,' says Anton Zensus, Director at the Max Planck Institute in Bonn and Chairman of the EHT Collaboration Council. The measurement data were calibrated and evaluated at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn using a supercomputer, the correlator. In 2017 alone, the telescopes recorded a total of about four petabytes of data - such a large amount that postal transport is actually faster and more efficient than sending the data via the Internet. The network of this so-called Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) included the 30-meter IRAM mirror in Spain and the APEX telescope in Chile, in which the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy is involved. An extreme angular resolution of less than 20 micro arc seconds can be achieved if our eyes had such a power, we could see the individual molecules in our hands. This synchronization takes place with the aid of high-precision atomic clocks accurate to the nanosecond. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is the name of this technique, in which the signals of the individual antennas are superimposed. In April 2017, the scientists linked eight telescopes around the globe for the first time, thus forming a virtual telescope with an aperture almost as large as the diameter of the Earth.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimetre Range (IRAM) are also involved in the observation. This worldwide network of eight ground-based radio telescopes focused on the galaxy Messier 87, about 55 million light years away. In this way, the Event Horizon Telescope has now succeeded for the first time in photographing a black hole. Because black holes are surrounded by shining gas discs and therefore stand out from the dark background, similar to a black cat on a white sofa. What sounds plausible is fortunately a little different in practice for astronomers.

Black holes swallow all light and are therefore invisible.

Blackhole pictures