In a recent release from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the entity announced that the so-called Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project just made a groundbreaking black hole discovery. While no details were revealed, ESO announced that a press conference on these recent findings would take place on April 10th at 15:00 CEST.
It might be the first direct photo of a black hole’s event horizon or something even more interesting than that. At this moment, all we know for sure is that it is going to be something significant since ESO announced that a total of six conferences would take place at the same time around the world, as follows: “Belgium (Brussels, English), Chile (Santiago, Spanish), Shanghai (Mandarin), Japan (Tokyo, Japanese), Taipei (Mandarin), and USA (Washington, D.C., English).”
Since its launch, the Event Horizon Telescope has been struggling to pinpoint Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Maybe, the scientists achieved their goal or, possibly, they found out something even more significant.
European scientists will announce a groundbreaking black hole discovery on April 10th
Pinpointing a black hole is challenging to achieve because black holes are invisible as they absorb everything, including the light. Currently, we can only detect black holes by studying their gravitational effect on the surrounding matter. However, seeing the event horizon of a black hole is possible in theory. And that’s perhaps what the Event Horizon Telescope achieved – the first image of a black hole’s event horizon.
Nonetheless, it might be something even more significant for science and humanity, as well. We believe that because “due to the importance of this result, we encourage satellite events in the different ESO Member States and beyond,” said the European Southern Observatory.
At this moment, we can only guess that the groundbreaking black hole discovery is related to the first image ever of an event horizon. All we can do right now is to wait until April 10th when the European Commission, the Event Horizon Telescope scientists, and the European Southern Observatory team will hold the press conference. You can watch it live below, so bookmark this page and highlight April 10th in your calendar because something huge is going to be revealed.
Jasmine holds a Master’s in Journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto and writes professionally in a broad variety of genres. She has worked as a senior manager in public relations and communications for major telecommunication companies, and is the former Deputy Director for Media Relations with the Modern Coalition. Jasmine writes primarily in our LGBTTQQIAAP and Science section.
Just watched the conference!! Thanks! Just great!!