You are the leader of the international Event Horizon Telescope, a collaboration of radio astronomers who want to take a picture of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way (Sag. A*). That black hole has a mass of about 4.1 million solar masses and is about 8 kpc away. If you are observing with a radio wavelength of about 1 mm, what effective diameter of your radio interferometric array is needed in order to just resolve the diameter of the Sag. A* black hole event horizon. (Assume the black hole is non-spinning, so its diameter is twice the event horizon radius.)

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You are the leader of the international Event Horizon Telescope, a collaboration of radio
astronomers who want to take a picture of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way (Sag. A*).
That black hole has a mass of about 4.1 million solar masses and is about 8 kpc away. If you are
observing with a radio wavelength of about 1 mm, what effective diameter of your radio
interferometric array is needed in order to just resolve the diameter of the Sag. A* black hole event
horizon. (Assume the black hole is non-spinning, so its diameter is twice the event horizon radius.)
Express your answer as a multiple of the Earth's radius.
[Hint: you will need to recall and combine three formulas introduced throughout this course, including
one about how big a black hole is, one about the criterion for resolving objects, and another that relates
distance, sizes, and angles.]
There really is an Event Horizon Telescope, and they are responsible for the first image of a black hole in
the galaxy M87 (below). Taking a picture of the black hole in our galaxy's center is one of their next
objectives.]
Transcribed Image Text:You are the leader of the international Event Horizon Telescope, a collaboration of radio astronomers who want to take a picture of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way (Sag. A*). That black hole has a mass of about 4.1 million solar masses and is about 8 kpc away. If you are observing with a radio wavelength of about 1 mm, what effective diameter of your radio interferometric array is needed in order to just resolve the diameter of the Sag. A* black hole event horizon. (Assume the black hole is non-spinning, so its diameter is twice the event horizon radius.) Express your answer as a multiple of the Earth's radius. [Hint: you will need to recall and combine three formulas introduced throughout this course, including one about how big a black hole is, one about the criterion for resolving objects, and another that relates distance, sizes, and angles.] There really is an Event Horizon Telescope, and they are responsible for the first image of a black hole in the galaxy M87 (below). Taking a picture of the black hole in our galaxy's center is one of their next objectives.]
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