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SUMMARY:The First Images of a Black Hole from the Event Horizon Telescope:
  Past\, Present\, and Future - Dr. Ziri Younsi\, University College London
DTSTART:20211123T193000Z
DTEND:20211123T204500Z
UID:TALK163114@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Xuchen Wang
DESCRIPTION:Supermassive black holes are believed to reside at the centres
  of galaxies\, powering some of themost violent and energetic events in th
 e known Universe. In spite of overwhelming indirect evidence of their exis
 tence\, until recently black holes had evaded direct observational confirm
 ation. In April 2019\, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHTC)\, 
 an international collaboration of over 60 universities and institutes span
 ning six continents\, astonished the world by publishing the first ever pi
 cture of a black hole. This picture\, of the black hole in the heart of th
 e galaxy Messier 87 (M87)\, received worldwide media coverage and represen
 ts the first time humankind has peered at the literal edge of space and ti
 me. To accomplish this unprecedented feat\, the EHTC linked radio telescop
 es around the world\, producing a virtual Earth-sized telescope with suffi
 cient resolution to image\, from Earth\, an orange on the Moon. The EHTC h
 as this year gone a step further\, imaging M87 using polarised light\, pio
 neering the measurement of its surrounding magnetic field and unravelling 
 how it consumes and ejects matter so prodigiously.\n\nIn this talk I will 
 begin by reviewing the basic properties of black holes and their history i
 n modern science. I will then present an overview of our current understan
 ding of the physics of matter and radiation near the event horizon\, outli
 ning how this understanding informed our theoretical calculations of black
 -hole images which underpinned the EHTC's measurement of the image of M87.
  I will then explain how the EHTC performed these ground-breaking measurem
 ents and produced the first images of a black hole. Finally\, I will discu
 ss some of the exciting ongoing efforts and new scientific developments wh
 ich will be taking place in the near-future.
LOCATION:Pfizer Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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