MIT: Measuring The Universe's 'Exit Door'

[Beyond]

Measuring The Universe's 'Exit Door'
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2012 Sep 27

For the first time, an international team has measured the radius of a black hole.

[i]An accretion disk (orange) of gas and dust surrounds super-massive black holes at the center of most galaxies. These disks of galactic matter emit magnetic beams (pink lines) that spew out from the center of the black hole, drawing matter out from both ends in high-powered jets. (Image: NASA and Ann Field (STScI))[/i]

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[bystander]

[i]This image, created using computer models, shows how the extreme gravity of the black hole in M87 distorts the appearance of the jet near the event horizon. Part of the radiation from the jet is bent by gravity into a ring that is known as the 'shadow' of the black hole. (Credit: Avery E. Broderick (Perimeter Institute & University of Waterloo))[/i]

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Peering to the Edge of a Black Hole
Center for Astrophysics | 2012 Sep 27

World's First Glimpse of Black Hole Launchpad
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics | 2012 Sep 27

A Spinning Black Hole at a Galaxy's Center
Science NOW | Yudhijit Bhattacharjee | 2012 Sep 27

Event Horizon Telescope

Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

• Sheperd S. Doeleman, Vincent L. Fish, David E. Schenck, et al
  Science (online 2012 Sep 27) DOI: 10.1126/science.1224768