Zooming-in to the heart of M87 to see a new view of its black hole

This zoom video starts with a view of ALMA, a telescope in which ESO is a partner and that is part of the Event Horizon Telescope, and zooms-in on the heart of M87, showing successively more detailed observations. At the end of the video, we see the first ever image of a black hole — first released in 2019 — followed by a new image released in 2021: how this supermassive object 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.

Credit:

ESO/L. Calçada, Digitized Sky Survey 2, ESA/Hubble, RadioAstron, De Gasperin et al., Kim et al., EHT Collaboration. Music: Niklas Falcke 

About the Video

Id:eso2105b
Release date:24 March 2021, 15:00
Related releases:eso2105
Duration:47 s
Frame rate:25 fps

About the Object

Name:Messier 87
Type:Local Universe : Galaxy : Component : Central Black Hole
Category:Quasars and Black Holes

Ultra HD (info)


HD


Medium

Video Podcast
10.4 MB

For Broadcasters