🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 P is for Polarization
Light’s fields oscillate, and their orientation sets its polarization - a key clue to a black hole’s environment.

Learn more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=smZt...

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡O is for Observing Campaign
Every year, the EHT studies M87*, Sgr A*, and other targets to watch black holes evolve - and to keep improving our images.

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 N is for Noise
Every measurement is affected by it. Noise comes from our instruments, Earth’s atmosphere, and even gas and dust between us and what we're observing.

#EHTAZ #blackholes #space

🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡M is for Multi-Wavelength
Black holes power active galactic nuclei like M87, which shine across many wavelengths.

Learn more: eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/m87s-po...

🔤EHT A-Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡L is for Light Bending
Black holes, like the one in M87, bend light with their intense gravity - letting us see even what’s behind them.

#EHTAZ #blackhole #science #space

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡K is for Kerr Black Hole
In 1963, Roy Kerr solved Einstein’s equations for a rotating black hole. EHT data supports this model, but their true spin is still uncertain.

#EHTAZ #astronomy #blackhole

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 J is for Jet
Black holes can launch powerful streams of particles moving at nearly the speed of light - we call these jets.

Just look at the striking one in M87!

#blackholes #EHTAZ #astronomy

🔤EHT A-Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡I is for Interferometry
By combining signals from telescopes around the world, we measure how radio waves interfere - allowing us to reconstruct detailed images of distant objects like black holes.

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡H is for High Energy
Black holes accelerate particles to incredibly high energies. The EHT captures low-energy radio waves to reveal the structure of these extreme realms.

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡G is for General Relativity
Einstein’s theory says mass bends space-time - that’s gravity. Black holes are its most extreme prediction, and EHT images help confirm it.

#blackholes #EHTAZ #astronomy

🔤EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡F is for Fourier Transform
The math that turns telescope data into black hole images.

Check out this brilliant video by Katie Bouman that explains the concept: www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5cS...

🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 E is for Event Horizon
The point of no return. It’s the invisible boundary around a black hole - cross it, and not even light can escape.

#BlackHoles #EHTAZ #Astronomy

🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 D is for Delay
Light from M87* doesn’t hit all EHT telescopes at once. Those tiny microsecond delays help us pinpoint where the signal came from- and map what it looks like.

🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 C is for Calibration
Calibration corrects errors from the atmosphere, instruments & measurements- revealing the true cosmic signals.

#BlackHoles #EHTAZ #Astronomy

🔤 EHT A–Z
We’re breaking down the science behind the Event Horizon Telescope - one letter at a time.

📡 B is for Baseline
A baseline is the distance and orientation between two radio telescopes - it sets how sharp our cosmic images can be.

#BlackHoles #EHTAZ #Astronomy

New EHT images show M87*’s magnetic fields changing: turning one way in 2017, settling in 2018, then reversing by 2021.

The flip may result from internal magnetic structure and external effects like a Faraday screen.

Credit: EHT Collaboration | Animation: Amy C. Oliver (CfA)

What are the stripes in the images of M87*?

They show the direction of polarized light. This animation shows how M87 would look over the years through a polarizer- like the filters in reflex cameras or 3D glasses.

Animation: I. Martí-Vidal (Univ. Valencia)

The new image of M87* just released today comes to life in this stunning animation, revealing its incredible evolution over the years!

Watch closely and see how this mysterious supermassive black hole changes over time.

Credit: EHT Collaboration | Animation: Saurabh (MPIfR)