Past Events

St. Louis Astronomical Society Meeting - First Images of a Supermassive Black Hole

In April 2019 the first images of a black hole were released by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) global consortium. The first image showed a bright ring of energy enclosing the shadow of the supermassive black hole Messier 87* (M87*). The black hole is lurking at the center of M87, a huge galaxy located 53 million light years away. New images from the EHT map polarized radio waves that trace out the structure of the black hole’s very strong magnetic field. The EHT is a global network of large radio telescopes. Its “images” are produced by combining the radio wave observations of the individual telescopes. EHT can see a level of detail equivalent to a single telescope as wide as the Earth. Dr. Akiyama will present an overview of the EHT. He will talk about major breakthroughs that made these images possible and what these images have revealed about the nature of supermassive black holes. 

Dr. Kazu Akiyama is a research scientist at the MIT Haystack Observatory. His primary research interest involves the extreme environment in the vicinity of black holes. He uses radio telescope observations that employ the technique of very long baseline interferometry.  He joined the team of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2010, and has led the Imaging Working Group of the EHT Collaboration since its establishment in 2017.  

The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events. For more information about Astronomical Society events, please visit www.slasonline.org or call 314-962-9231. The event, cosponsored by NASA's Missouri Space Grant Consortium, is open to the public free of charge. 

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