In April 2019, the world was impressed by one of the most remarkable milestones as a team of international researchers announced that they have managed to capture the first image of a black hole with the help of the powerful Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which reunites eight telescopes spread across the globe.
New research on the image of the supermassive black hole
Another team of researchers, this time from the University of Harvard, has performed a series of measurements and calculations that anticipate a fascinating structure found within black holes, which is influenced by gravitational light bending.
The current image has revealed merely a small part of the look of a black hole in the form of the section, which is known under the name of the photon ring or photon sphere. It is thought that gravity is so intense around this region that it forces photons to follow orbits.
A series of nested rings was also spotted, in which each successive ring is maintaining a regular diameter but becoming sharper as the photons orbited at a faster rate when closer to the center of the black hole.
Future studies will hopefully help us learn more about black holes
Black holes have fascinated researchers since they were discovered for the first time as their mere existence goes against some of the fundamental laws of physics. From a scientific point of view, a black hole is defined as an area in space where the gravitational pull is so intense that nothing can escape its pull, even light. The limits of this reason are known as the event horizon.
It is theorized that a black hole can be classified as the ideal black body since it cannot reflect lights. Some theories also estimated that event horizons could generate and release Hawking radiation, while also reaching a temperature that is beyond billions of Kelvin degrees.
Future projects may involve a series of advanced satellites that could observe black holes and record high-quality images, which should provide more data about black holes.
