European Southern Observatory (Event Horizon Project team) – picture of Sgr A*

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the recent announcement from the European Southern Observatory regarding the Event Horizon Telescope project's image of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Participants share their reactions to the image, the collaborative effort behind the project, and related astronomical observations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express excitement about the announcement and the collaborative nature of the Event Horizon Telescope project, noting the involvement of hundreds of scientists.
  • Others comment on the image quality, with mixed expectations regarding its appearance compared to cinematic representations like those in 'Interstellar.'
  • There is mention of the potential for future images when the Event Horizon Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope collaborate, with some expressing confidence in the quality of those images.
  • One participant shares a link to a video explaining how the image of Sgr A* was produced.
  • Another participant discusses the characteristics of Sgr A*'s accretion disk, describing it as having a puffed-up doughnut shape and suggesting it feeds at a slower rate compared to other black holes.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the significance of the announcement and the collaborative effort involved. However, there are differing opinions regarding the image quality and expectations for future observations, indicating a lack of consensus on those points.

Contextual Notes

Some discussions involve assumptions about the visual representation of astronomical phenomena and the implications of the accretion disk's characteristics, which may depend on specific definitions and observational conditions.

pinball1970
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TL;DR
The results are from the Event Horizon Telescope project which was responsible for producing the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019.
A conference will be streamed about the findings online on 12 May 2022 at 15:00 CEST (13:00 UTC, 9:00 EST), followed by a YouTube event with six astronomers from around the world. Press releases will include "extensive supporting audiovisual material"
This alert regarding an announcement from the European Southern Observatory – announcement 12th May

The results are from the Even Horizon Telescope project which was responsible for producing the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019.

The video of that announcement is in the link. Worth seeing.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks, Hubble images of the oldest star ever imaged, Webb about to start and this project.

https://www.sciencealert.com/astron...ke-a-massive-announcement-about-the-milky-way
 
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Astronomy news on Phys.org
This is the youtube link to the ESO announcement



They use the word "ground breaking!"

Cheers
EDIT: 13.5.22. They have changed the video link from the actual live announcement yesterday (12th May) to a compact explanation. The announcement will be on line somewhere.
 
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I'll be honest, the image was 'similar' not sure what I expected. Perhaps an image like something from 'Interstellar!'
What was great was the description of the collaboration, 100s of scientists country wide, a global effort.
They mentioned this in 2019 too, this is what can be achieved when all the politics is removed. Even more pertinent now. Anyway @mfb has a thread that will discuss the mechanics. I just wanted pretty pictures!
 
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That's a good image.
 
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Sagittarius A-Star said:
That's a good image.
Avatar quality, no doubt.
 
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pinball1970 said:
I just wanted pretty pictures!
When EHT (viewing conditions permitting) and JWST get together, you will see some pretty pictures, I have no doubt of that.
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2021/news-2021-053.html

With s55 at Perihelion to Sag A later this year, it seems like a good time to study some physics. I understand that interaction is of keen interest in certain circles.
 
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She spent a lot of time on this one.
 
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Sam Gregson and Dan Wilkins talk about the image.
 
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  • #10
Oldman too said:
When EHT (viewing conditions permitting) and JWST get together, you will see some pretty pictures
For my avatar, the current image resolution is sufficient.
 
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  • #11
Sagittarius A-Star said:
For my avatar, the current image resolution is sufficient.
Hi, your correct, it's a perfect avatar image,resolution and all. I was just mentioning your user name and the avatar made a very nice complimentary match. My post #6 was a reply to @pinball1970 mentioning that he just wanted pretty pictures.
 
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  • #12
This video describes, how the image of Sgr A* was made:

 
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  • #13
Interesting info being released already, it seems Sag-A is a nibbler when it comes to it's accretion disk.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01462-z

"Their data show that the accretion disk is shaped more like a puffed-up doughnut than a flat pancake. This fattened shape means that the disk supplies the black hole with scraps of matter at a leisurely pace, which makes it relatively dim compared with other, greedier black holes."
 

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