On Wednesday, scientists in six cities on three continents are poised to simultaneously unveil the first picture of these enigmatic giants.
Massive, ravenous, powerful beyond measure -– physicists are convinced that black holes exist, even if no one has directly observed one.
But that’s about to change.
On Wednesday, scientists in six cities on three continents are poised to simultaneously unveil the first picture of these enigmatic giants, pieced together from data collected by a global network of radio telescopes.
A black hole is a celestial object that compresses a huge mass into an extremely small space.
If the same were to happen to Earth, our planet would fit inside a thimble or a water bottle cap. The Sun would only be six kilometres (a few miles) in diameter, Guy Perrin, an astronomer at the Paris-LSL Observatory, told AFP.
According to the laws of general relativity, published a century ago by Albert Einstein, the gravitational pull of these omnivorous monsters is so strong that no object can escape if it comes too close.
That includes stars and the electromagnetic waves – no matter how long or short – they give off, including visible light.
