More fascinating stuff (via Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy):
“To be clear, you are not actually seeing the black hole itself. That circular hole in the center of the ring is not the black hole, but really an effect of its gravity. It’s being called the “shadow” of the black hole, but I think of it more as its cloaking device: The gravity is bending the light from the material around it, sending it toward us, leaving a gap where the black hole itself is. Perhaps the best way to describe it is as the silhouette of the black hole’s gravity.”
This artist’s impression depicts a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole surrounded by an accretion disc. This thin disc of rotating material consists of the leftovers of a Sun-like star which was ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole. The black hole is labelled, showing the anatomy of this fascinating object.
Source: ESO via Bad Astronomer
We are truly living in the golden age of Astrophysics:
A global network of telescopes has been working to capture the first ever image of a black hole.
Source: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration and National Science Foundation
See also: A method to image black holes.
