Bigger than the solar system: The black hole in the Figures

the black hole in The center of the galaxy M87 is the first that sees the humanity. Technically the entire cast of the recording is a milestone, but what are the Benefits of the portrait of this cosmic monster?

astronomy to satisfy as many of the Sciences, the curiosity. Physics benefits but also the economy. So, for example, a DVD-player or USB-storage is not possible without a comprehensive understanding of the quantum mechanics. From large projects like the moon landing, many promises, also, a coming Together of the Nations. Also, the Event Horizon Telescope, which had set itself the goal to photograph a black hole, is an international project. More than 60 institutions from all over the world were involved.

Since Albert Einstein more than a hundred years, and wondered if there celestial body could give, and which nothing can escape, not even light, is the fascination continues unabated. This also does not change the image that shows in the first line, the radiation from the hot Gas that falls into a singularity. The Special on the photo is that it has the similar to a cheese hole Nothing to the content.

Unimaginable Numbers

the Figures, published by the researchers, to the picture show: There are things no one can imagine. This also applies to scientists. So astronomers tell us, and you could not imagine the distances between the stars. Or, the American physicist Richard Feynman, who once said: "anyone Who believes that the quantum theory is understood, has not understood it."

The galaxy M87 is 55 million light-years. The are 500 trillion kilometers. The diameter of the black hole is 60 light-years. A ray of light is needed, therefore, from end to end, 60 years. For comparison: The solar system has, depending on the Definition of an extent of approximately 15 billion kilometres.

#xkcd: M87 Black Hole Size Comparison pic.twitter.com/GBdnhL3BdU

— xkcd (@xkcd2) April 10, 2019

The dwarf planet Pluto at the outer edge is in the cut of nearly six billion kilometers from the sun. The light needs for this distance is approximately five and a half hours.

Black holes have been indirectly observed since a very long time. Of the newly acquired data, the researchers hope to learn more about the properties of the gravity monster. So you want to examine, for example, the Rotation in more detail. The crashing of matter offers the opportunity. This does not disappear, namely, the direct way to the image surface. It is collected on a rotating disc. In this case, the Gas heats so much that it emits x-ray radiation, which can be measured with telescopes.

At the inner edge of the disc of the event horizon that gave the name to the project begins. What is behind it, you can not physically describe. The question, what happens Inside of a black hole is scientifically as pointless as speculation about what it looks like outside of the universe.

"The Fun begins"

With the new data, the researchers want to test the theory of relativity under the most extreme gravitational conditions. And you want to examine the Jet, a stream of matter, the black hole spin in the center of M87 up to 5000 light years into space. Such findings also have an impact on the image, the astrophysicist from the universe.

so Far, there were black holes, only the illustrations. Now, astronomers have succeeded in the first recording. Video: Tamedia

astronomers also expect that soon even a recording of the black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the milky way, the Herimatgalaxie of the sun, will succeed. "Now the Fun begins," says Karl Schuster, Director of the International Institute for radio astronomy, the German Max-Planck-Gesellschaft is involved. "We know now that it works, now we can Refine the method and the resolution can be further improved."

The questions, not the astronomers, anyway. So there are different types of black holes. A stellar black hole is formed when a star with at least 2.5 sun collapses masses at the end of his life. Supermassive black holes are believed to be in the centre of most galaxies, however, are thousands of times heavier. So now photographed black hole has 6.5 billion solar masses. How such mass structures rich could arise, is unknown. Stephen Hawking made in the seventies, the theory that supermassive black holes already in the big Bang formed.

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Created: 11.04.2019, 17:46 PM