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Black Holes

Image Gallery : Black Holes

Objects so dense that they have formed a gravitational event horizon. Anything entering the event horizon is forever trapped, including light. Stellar mass black holes are the remnants of dead stars. Supermassive black holes are at the center of most galaxies, and have a mass of millions or billions of Suns.

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Vimeo Thumbnail for Jansky Lecture – Dr. Françoise Combes

Jansky Lecture – Dr. Françoise Combesmore_horiz

First image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way

This is the first image of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It’s the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the “event horizon”, the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape.

Although we cannot see the event horizon itself, because it cannot emit light, glowing gas orbiting around the black hole reveals a telltale signature: a dark central region (called a “shadow”) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun. The image of the Sgr A* black hole is an average of the different images the EHT Collaboration has extracted from its 2017 observations.

Monster at the Heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, Sgr A*more_horiz

Helical Jets of M87more_horiz

Vimeo Thumbnail for Quasar Distance Record

Quasar Distance Recordmore_horiz

Vimeo Thumbnail for The Baseline 7: Mapping The Radio Sky

The Baseline 7: Mapping The Radio Skymore_horiz

Vimeo Thumbnail for NRAO’s Baseline Episode 3: Viewing Active Galaxies

NRAO’s Baseline Episode 3: Viewing Active Galaxiesmore_horiz

Vimeo Thumbnail for NRAO’s Baseline Episode 2: A Black Hole Eats A Star

NRAO’s Baseline Episode 2: A Black Hole Eats A Starmore_horiz

Double Boomerangmore_horiz

Artist impression of the merging galaxy NGC 6240more_horiz

NGC 6240 as seen with ALMA (top right) and the Hubble Space Telescope (combined image on the left and zoomed in on the bottom right). In the ALMA image, the molecular gas is blue and the black holes are the red dots. The ALMA image provides the sharpest view of the molecular gas around the black holes in this merging galaxy.

NGC 6240 galaxy crashmore_horiz

NGC 6240 as seen with ALMA. The molecular gas is blue and the black holes are the red dots. This image provides the sharpest view yet of the molecular gas around the black holes in this merging galaxy.

The Turbulent Life of Two Supermassive Black Holes Caught in a Galaxy Crashmore_horiz

01 – ALMA Top 10: Messier 87 The Very First Image of a Black Holemore_horiz

02 – ALMA Top 10: ALMA Captures Orbital Motion around a Black Hole.more_horiz

03 – ALMA Top 10: Counter-rotating Gas Flows around a Black Holemore_horiz

A Universe Full of Radio Galaxies. Credit: Brian Kent

A Universe Full of Radio Galaxiesmore_horiz

EHT image of event horizon in the central supermassive black hole of M87

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Holemore_horiz

Animation of Unified AGN Modelmore_horiz

Inflow, Outflow Cycle of Gas Near Black Holemore_horiz

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