Thursday, January 19, 2012

Holy Crap We're Gonna See Real-Time Footage of a Black Hole!!

Scientists are planning to network together a number of giant radio telescopes, which should result in real-time imaging of the enormous black hole at the center of the galaxy! (Black Hole Cam?)

Well, of course we won't see the black hole itself. But we'll see its event horizon - the trippy place where physics begins to get screwy and matter and energy edge toward the black hole's death grip.

Ok. I believe we're really in the future now!

Note to those who'd quibble at the term "real time" to describe photography of light that's traveled for 29,000 years: this is actually scientifically defensible. I learned about this earlier this year, and I started a thread on an astronomy forum so I could bone up and defend it here. But, what the hell, go check it out yourself. The first reply is interesting, though not very pertinent. The second, by Chris Peterson, is excellent, and the thread he links to is better still.

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