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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +date: 2016-04-01 |
| 3 | +publishDate: 2016-04-01 |
| 4 | +tags: ["Project", "Astronomy"] |
| 5 | +title: Event Horizon Telescope |
| 6 | +featured: featured.png |
| 7 | +math: true |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | +### Project: <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Event Horizon Telescope</a> |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +### About EHT |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +A long standing goal in astrophysics is to directly observe the |
| 14 | +immediate environment of a black hole with angular resolution |
| 15 | +comparable to the event horizon. Such observations could lead to |
| 16 | +images of strong gravity effects that are expected near a black hole, |
| 17 | +and to the direct detection of dynamics near the black hole as matter |
| 18 | +orbits at near light speeds. This capability would open a new window |
| 19 | +on the study of general relativity in the strong field regime, |
| 20 | +accretion and outflow processes at the edge of a black hole, the |
| 21 | +existence of event horizons, and fundamental black hole physics. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +The EHT is an international collaboration that has formed to continue |
| 24 | +the steady long-term progress on improving the capability of Very Long |
| 25 | +Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at short wavelengths in pursuit of this |
| 26 | +goal. This technique of linking radio dishes across the globe to |
| 27 | +create an Earth-sized interferometer, has been used to measure the |
| 28 | +size of the emission regions of the two supermassive black holes with |
| 29 | +the largest apparent event horizons: SgrA* at the center of the Milky |
| 30 | +Way and M87 in the center of the Virgo A galaxy. In both cases, the |
| 31 | +sizes match that of the predicted silhouette caused by the extreme |
| 32 | +lensing of light by the black hole. Addition of key millimeter and |
| 33 | +submillimeter wavelength facilities at high altitude sites has now |
| 34 | +opened the possibility of imaging such features and sensing the |
| 35 | +dynamic evolution of black hole accretion. The EHT project includes |
| 36 | +theoretical and simulation studies that are framing questions rooted |
| 37 | +at the black hole boundary that may soon be answered through |
| 38 | +observations. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +By linking together existing telescopes using novel systems, the EHT |
| 41 | +leverages considerable global investment to create a fundamentally new |
| 42 | +instrument with angular resolving power that is the highest possible |
| 43 | +from the surface of the Earth. Over the coming years, the |
| 44 | +international EHT team will mount observing campaigns of increasing |
| 45 | +resolving power and sensitivity, aiming to bring black holes into |
| 46 | +focus. |
| 47 | + |
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