Black Holes have always been a mystery to humankind since the first time they were discovered. However, in April 2019, history was created when the astronomers captured the first picture of the Supermassive Black Hole. Nevertheless, the memorable picture is now converted into a movie which explains a lot about the evolution of the black hole.

The Black Hole evolution clip uses data of years of observations 

The Supermassive Black Hole is situated at the centre of galaxy Messier 87, designated as M87*. The short video created by scientists reveals how the appearance of the black hole’s surroundings changes over the years. This change in the surrounding caused due to the M87* Black Hole’s gravity which moves the material around it into a constant maelstrom.

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As we have seen in the picture, the Supermassive Black Hole has an lightened surrounding due to a ring of light emitted by superheated matter just outside the event horizon. The image was based only on observations performed throughout a one-week window in April 2017, which is far too short to see a lot of changes happening to the M87 Black Hole. However, EHT collaboration tried to find out more about the black hole by using years of data altogether. 

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The official website of Event Horizon Telescope collaboration says: “The 2009-2013 observations consist of far less data than the ones performed in 2017, making it impossible to create an image. Instead, the EHT team used statistical modelling to look at changes in the appearance of M87* over time. While no assumptions about the source morphology are made in the imaging approach, in the modelling approach the data are compared to a family of geometric templates, in this case, rings of non-uniform brightness. A statistical framework is then employed to determine if the data are consistent with such models and to find the best-fitting model parameters.”

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Nevertheless, by understanding the years of data, scientists observed that the diameter of the Supermassive Black Hole remains the same. This new observation proves Einstein’s theory of general relativity very vividly. Kazu Akiyama from NRAO at MIT Haystack Observatory, who is a contributor to the project, told the EHT collaboration team that “the consistency throughout multiple observational epochs gives us more confidence than ever about the nature of M87* and the origin of the shadow.”

This idea of revisiting the older data helped humanity to better understand Black Holes and it is expected to open gates to understanding phenomena such as relativistic jet launching and it may also enable scientists to formulate new tests of the theory of General Relativity.

All Images/ Videos/ Promo Image/ Info Credits ~ Event Horizon Telescope Blog

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