The First Black Hole Photo Is Even More Amazing When You Zoom Out.

 

Credit, X-ray: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen; Radio: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

See The Particle Jets Spewing More than 1,000 Light Years from The Centre of M87.

 

Photo Friends

In April 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) wasn't the only powerful instrument focused on galaxy Messier 87 (M87).

 

While the EHT was focused on the black hole's event horizon, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory was taking a wider picture of the same target — and the image created by those observations puts the black hole photo into spectacular context.

 

1,000 Light Years

In a blogpost published on Monday, the Chandra team expanded on the stunning display of brilliant particles observed in its black hole companion image:

 

"While Chandra can't see the shadow, its field of view is far bigger than the EHT's, allowing it to glimpse the entire length of the jet of high-energy particles blasted by the black hole's tremendous gravitational and magnetic fields." This jet stretches over 1,000 light years from the galaxy's centre."

 

Credit, X-ray: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen; Radio: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Reference: NASA