A Black Hole and its Far-Reaching Effects

14 April, 2021 / Read time: 1 minute

This short video shows the first image ever taken of a black hole. It is M87*, the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation cluster. This image was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, of which the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) was a crucial part.

In addition, the footage shows an animation made with a montage of the different photographs that have been obtained of the body over the years, generating a “zoom out” effect. All these images, taken at different wavelengths and by different telescopes, help the scientific community to better understand the nature and effects of the black holes described in the video.

Credits: Sophia Dagnello; NRAO/AUI/NSF; CXC; EHT Collaboration