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EHT Pinpoints Dark Heart of the Nearest Radio Galaxy

An international team anchored by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, which is known for capturing the first image of a black hole in the galaxy Messier 87, has now imaged the heart of the nearby radio galaxy Centaurus A in unprecedented detail. The astronomers pinpoint the location of the central supermassive black hole and reveal how a gigantic jet is being born. Most remarkably, only the outer edges of the jet seem to emit radiation, which challenges our theoretical models of jets. This work, led by Michael Janssen from the...

NSBP/SAO EHT Scholars Program Reaches Second Year Milestone

Launched in 2020, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory partnership with the National Society of Black Physicists welcomes two Summer 2021 interns to work on Event Horizon Telescope science.

Cambridge, MA (July 14, 2021)— Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has welcomed two new summer interns thanks to a union between the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) and the...

Einstein's Theory Can Explain the Black Hole M87*

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration scientists use data which produced the first image of a black hole to constrain its fundamental properties.

In 2019, the EHT Collaboration published the first image of a black hole located ...

Telescopes Unite in Unprecedented Observations of Famous Black Hole

In April 2019, scientists released the first image of a black hole in the galaxy M87 using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). However, that remarkable achievement was just the beginning of the science story to be told.

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Astronomers Image Magnetic Fields at the Edge of M87’s Black Hole

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of a black hole, has revealed today a new view of the massive object at the centre of the M87 galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core.

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2021 Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences Presented to Shep Doeleman and Heino Falcke

Recognizing their vision and leadership within the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) awards Shep Doeleman and Heino Falcke the Henry Draper Medal. The 300+ members of the collaboration are honored and proud of this recognition of the revolutionary and fundamental scientific results they achieved together.

The Henry Draper Medal is awarded every four years and honors a recent, original investigation in astronomical physics of sufficient importance and benefit to science. From the NAS: "the...

2021 Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award Presented to EHT

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration is pleased to have been granted by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) the 2021 Group Achievement Award (A). The EHT is a global network of synchronised radio observatories that work in unison to observe radio sources associated with black holes. In April...

Einstein's Description of Gravity Just Got Much Harder to Beat

Einstein's theory of general relativity – the idea that gravity is matter warping spacetime – has withstood over 100 years of scrutiny and testing, including the newest test from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, published today in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters. According to...

Wobbling Shadow of the M87* Black Hole

Analysis of the Event Horizon Telescope observations from 2009-2017 reveals turbulent evolution of the M87* black hole image

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration delivered ...

NSBP/SAO EHT Scholars Program Opens New Research Pathways for Underrepresented Young Physicists

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory partners with National Society of Black Physicists to launch annual research internship and recruitment opportunity

Cambridge, MA (September 16, 2020)— The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory...