APOD Discussion

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Astronomy

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Oct 30, 2023

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M87's Central Black Hole in Polarized Light This APOD, which depicts the supermassive blackhole at the center of M87’s galaxy, is actually an enhancement of the famous image released in 2019 of the same black hole, only this time the polarized light of the black hole is overlaid onto it, which gives us a representation of its magnetic field. Both this enhanced image, which was released in March of 2021, and the original image released in April 2019 represent major advancements in our research and understanding of supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies. The topic of black holes interests me in particular since there’s still so little about what we know regarding what goes on inside of black holes, and why there are supermassive black holes in the center of every galaxy. Black holes were first hinted at in 1783 by John Michell, who described objects that are so massive that light would not be able to escape (Conover). Albert Einstein added to this concept in 1915 through his theory of relativity, which describes how matter can be packed into

infinitely dense regions of space surrounded by event horizons. Robert J. Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder described in 1939 how a massive star could collapse onto itself to create what we now call black holes (Conover). At this point, black holes were still just a theory, and they wouldn’t be proven until 1972 when astronomers discovered a bright source of X-rays which would belong to a black hole. The past few decades have been incredible for black hole research, and the past few years specifically have been monumental in our understanding of black holes. The black hole shown in the image is located 55 million light years from Earth in the center of Messier 87, and is 6.5 billion times the mass of our own sun (Gohd). In 2017, more than 200 scientists, from observations around the world, gathered more than a petabyte of data from staring into M87’s black hole, and it took two years for the final result to come out, which was the first image of a black hole ever created (Drake). Now, researchers are using extremely detailed computer simulations to learn more about this black hole and black holes in general. Using three-dimensional supercomputer models, we can study the movement of photons in the black hole’s jet, which can help us learn how these jets remain stable through such large distances (Gohd). Although we have made enormous strides in our understanding of black holes, there is still much we have to learn about these celestial objects. After over a century of research on black holes, we are becoming closer and closer to understanding the inner workings of a black hole. Black holes are some of the most interesting objects in the universe, from how they form, how they interact with light and matter, and how they dilate time. In the near future, it is entirely possible that we will have a full understanding of the inside of a black hole and its singularity. Works Cited

Event Horizon Telescope. “APOD: 2021 March 31 - M87's Central Black Hole in Polarized Light.” NASA , NASA, https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210331.html. Gohd, Chelsea. “The Giant Black Hole of Galaxy M87 Shoots Jets at Nearly Light Speed.” Space.com , Space, 9 Nov. 2021, https://www.space.com/black-hole-m87-shoots-out-jets-light-speed. Conover, Emily. “A Short History of Black Holes.” Science News for Students , 6 Dec. 2019, https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/short-history-of-black-holes. Drake, Nadia. “First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole Unveiled.” Science , National Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/first-picture-black-hole-reveale d-m87-event-horizon-telescope-astrophysics.

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