[bitontheslide]

Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy.

It measures 40 billion km across - three million times the size of the Earth - and has been described by scientists as "a monster".

The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world.

Details have been published today in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Prof Heino Falcke, of Radboud University in the Netherlands, who proposed the experiment, told BBC News that the black hole was found in a galaxy called M87.

"What we see is larger than the size of our entire Solar System," he said.

"It has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. And it is one of the heaviest black holes that we think exist. It is an absolute monster, the heavyweight champion of black holes in the Universe."

The image shows a intensely bright "ring of fire", as Prof Falcke describes it, surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole. The bright halo is caused by superheated gas falling into the hole. The light is brighter than all the billions of other stars in the galaxy combined - which is why it can be seen at such distance from Earth.

The edge of the dark circle at the centre is the point at which the gas enters the black hole, which is an object that has such a large gravitational pull, not even light can escape.

The image shows an intensely bright "ring of fire", as Prof Falcke describes it, surrounding a perfectly circular dark hole. The bright halo is caused by superheated gas falling into the hole. The light is brighter than all the billions of other stars in the galaxy combined - which is why it can be seen at such distance from Earth.

The edge of the dark circle at the centre is the point at which the gas enters the black hole, which is an object that has such a large gravitational pull, not even light can escape.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47873592

[Smithy]

Is that Armond Rizzo?

[montblanc]

i thought they were invisible

[Jordan.]

I'm tryna visit

[reece(:]

Is that Ariana's dough nut?

[LaLaLand]

Incredible

[LeatherTrumpet]

Iv had worse

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

Iv had worse

[JerseyWins]

Originally Posted by Jordan.

I'm tryna visit

I’m tryna send RileyH to visit

[Northern Monkey]

This is a major event in our lifetimes.The first ever picture of a black hole.It proves Einsteins theory of general relativity right.
Also this is 54 million light years away.
What we are seeing happened 54 million years ago!
Our nearest star is only 4.3 light years away.That would take us 78,000 years to get to with current tech.So this galaxy with the black hole would probably take us billions of years to travel to.
The distances are unimaginable!

[GoldHeart]

Stephen Hawkins would of liked this .

It's fascinating stuff

[Vicky.]

This kind of thing has always facsinated me. Earth is really such a tiny inconsequential thing in the grand scheme of things..

[bitontheslide]

i have my own ring of fire on a Sunday morning after the curry the night before

[Mystic Mock]

The Black Hole looks very fascinating, I always wondered what one would look like in real life, but that picture is phenomenal and as Northern Monkey's said, it's a massive breakthrough in our lifetime.

Absolutely incredible.

[Livia]

It's a fascinating picture... an actual black hole.

I wish I'd been cleverer at science, I'd have loved to have studied and worked in this field. My mind isn't wired like that though, sadly.

[arista]

[It’s 3 million Earths wide and 55 million light years away. And this black hole – the first ever to be photographed – is on a mission to suck up everything in its path]

Good job its far away
its not going Suck me up that big Hole.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ter_mailonline

[Northern Monkey]

Originally Posted by arista

[It’s 3 million Earths wide and 55 million light years away. And this black hole – the first ever to be photographed – is on a mission to suck up everything in its path]

Good job its far away
its not going Suck me up that big Hole.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ter_mailonline

There is a supermassive black hole at the centre of most galaxies.Including our own Milkyway.

[LeatherTrumpet]

its what causes galaxies to whirl and to coagulate

like when you pull the plug oot the sink