Announcement of First Results from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)

What does a black hole look like?  Einstein’s theory of General Relativity tells us what we should expect:  light bent by the incredibly strong gravitational fields of the black hole, and a central “shadow” of the black hole’s event horizon, from which nothing, not even light, can escape.  But so far this image has only been seen in simulations, as black hole event horizons are amazingly small despite potentially enormous black hole masses.  Imaging the largest event horizons on the sky would be the equivalent of taking a picture of a DVD on the surface of the moon.

This is precisely the goal of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a project consisting of multiple radio telescopes throughout the world operating together as a single “earth sized” telescope.  On Wednesday, April 10, 8:00 AM CDT, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be holding a press conference to announce a groundbreaking result from the EHT.

We will be broadcasting the press conference live in the Physics Department, Compton 241, from 8:00 AM - 9:20 AM.

Website for NSF Press Conference: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=298155&org=NSF&from=news

Website for the Event Horizon Telescope: https://eventhorizontelescope.org/