Author: Emily Conover / Source: Science News
It’s hard to say which scientist was the first to set eyes on the glowing ring that makes up the world’s first image of a black hole.
But astrophysicist Kazunori Akiyama was certainly one of the earliest.The image, released to the public on April 10, revealed the dark shadow of the supermassive black hole encircled by swirling gas at the center of the galaxy M87 (SN Online: 4/10/19). This was no quick and easy snapshot. Collecting the data involved eight observatories and more than 200 researchers around the world. Making an image out of that data demanded the skills of more than 50 imaging experts (SN Online: 4/10/19). Akiyama, of MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, Mass., was a leader of that effort to translate the data into the final, stunning shot.
But before Akiyama and the others could create the image, they had to wait months for others on the Event Horizon Telescope team to analyze and crunch down…
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