UMass Astronomers Play Critical Role in Event Horizon Discovery

Thursday, April 11, 2019

 

 

 

 

Gopal Narayanan and Peter Schloerb coordinated the "Event Horizon Telescope" (EHT), essentially turning the Earth into a giant telecope by coordinating observations from sites in Mexico, Hawaii, Arizona, the South Pole, Chile, and Spain. The Large Millimeter Telescope.


 

International Astronomy Team Reveals First Images of a Shadow of the Event Horizon of a Super-Massive Black Hole

UMass Amherst Professors Gopal Narayanan and Peter Schloerb helped coordinate the "Event Horizon Telescope" (EHT), essentially turning the Earth into a giant telecope by coordinating observations from sites in Mexico, Hawaii, Arizona, the South Pole, Chile, and Spain. The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) played a critical role in capturing the first image of a black hole. The 50-meter diameter telescope, situtated at an altitude of 4600 m (15000 ft) on Volcan Sierra Negra in Mexico is jointly operated by Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE) and the University of Massachusetts. With its large aperture and resulting sensitivity, and its central geographical location, the LMT is one of the most critical telescopes for the EHT array. Professor Narayanan leads a team of UMass researchers that builds and installs sensitive radio receivers for EHT observations with the LMT, and conducts coordinated observational campaigns with the rest of the EHT collaboration, and in subsequent data analysis.

EHT image of M87 Supermassive Black Hole

Image: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, via National Science Foundation