First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. the Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
Journal article, 2019
When surrounded by a transparent emission region, black holes are expected to reveal a dark shadow caused by gravitational light bending and photon capture at the event horizon. To image and study this phenomenon, we have assembled the Event Horizon Telescope, a global very long baseline interferometry array observing at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. This allows us to reconstruct event-horizon-scale images of the supermassive black hole candidate in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. We have resolved the central compact radio source as an asymmetric bright emission ring with a diameter of 42 ±3 μas, which is circular and encompasses a central depression in brightness with a flux ratio ≈10:1. The emission ring is recovered using different calibration and imaging schemes, with its diameter and width remaining stable over four different observations carried out in different days. Overall, the observed image is consistent with expectations for the shadow of a Kerr black hole as predicted by general relativity. The asymmetry in brightness in the ring can be explained in terms of relativistic beaming of the emission from a plasma rotating close to the speed of light around a black hole. We compare our images to an extensive library of ray-traced general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of black holes and derive a central mass of M =(6.5 ±0.7) ×10 9 M o . Our radio-wave observations thus provide powerful evidence for the presence of supermassive black holes in centers of galaxies and as the central engines of active galactic nuclei. They also present a new tool to explore gravity in its most extreme limit and on a mass scale that was so far not accessible.
Author
Kazunori Akiyama
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Harvard University
Antxon Alberdi
Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)
Walter Alef
Max Planck Society
K. Asada
Academia Sinica
R. Azulay
Max Planck Society
Universitat de Valencia
A. K. Baczko
Max Planck Society
David Ball
University of Arizona
Mislav Baloković
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
John Barrett
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Dan Bintley
East Asian Observatory
Lindy Blackburn
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
W. Boland
Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie (NOVA)
K. L. Bouman
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
G. C. Bower
Academia Sinica
M. Bremer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
C. D. Brinkerink
Radboud University
Roger Brissenden
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Silke Britzen
Max Planck Society
Avery E. Broderick
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
D. Broguière
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas Bronzwaer
Radboud University
Do Young Byun
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
J. E. Carlstrom
University of Chicago
A. Chael
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Chi Kwan Chan
University of Arizona
S. Chatterjee
Cornell University
Koushik Chatterjee
University of Amsterdam
Ming Tang Chen
Academia Sinica
Yongjun Chen
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Chinese Academy of Sciences
I. Cho
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Pierre Christian
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
University of Arizona
John Conway
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
James M. Cordes
Cornell University
G. Crew
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Yuzhu Cui
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Jordy Davelaar
Radboud University
Mariafelicia De Laurentis
Goethe University Frankfurt
University of Naples Federico II
R. P. Deane
Rhodes University
University of Pretoria
Jessica Dempsey
East Asian Observatory
Gregory Desvignes
Max Planck Society
Jason Dexter
Max Planck Society
S. Doeleman
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ralph P. Eatough
Max Planck Society
H.D. Falcke
Radboud University
V. Fish
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
E. Fomalont
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
R. Fraga-Encinas
Radboud University
William T. Freeman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Google Inc.
P. Friberg
East Asian Observatory
Christian M. Fromm
Goethe University Frankfurt
J. L. Gomez
Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)
Peter Galison
Harvard University
Charles F. Gammie
University of Illinois
Roberto Garcia
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Olivier Gentaz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Boris Georgiev
University of Waterloo
C. Goddi
Leiden University
Radboud University
R. Gold
Goethe University Frankfurt
Minfeng Gu
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Gurwell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
K. Hada
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Michael H. Hecht
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
R. Hesper
University of Groningen
Luis C. Ho
Beijing University of Technology
Paul Ho
Academia Sinica
Mareki Honma
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Chih Wei L. Huang
Academia Sinica
Lei Huang
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Chinese Academy of Sciences
D. Hughes
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Shiro Ikeda
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics
University of Tokyo
Makoto Inoue
Academia Sinica
S. Issaoun
Radboud University
David J. James
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Buell T. Jannuzi
University of Arizona
M. Janßen
Radboud University
Britton Jeter
University of Waterloo
Wu Jiang
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Michael D. Johnson
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
S.G. Jorstad
Saint Petersburg State University - Spsu
Boston University
Taehyun Jung
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Mansour Karami
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Waterloo
R. Karuppusamy
Max Planck Society
Tomohisa Kawashima
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
G. Keating
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
M. M. Kettenis
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Jae Young Kim
Max Planck Society
Junhan Kim
University of Arizona
Jongsoo Kim
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
M. Kino
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering
Jun Yi Koay
Academia Sinica
Patrick M. Koch
Academia Sinica
Shoko Koyama
Academia Sinica
M. Kramer
Max Planck Society
C. Kramer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
T.P. Krichbaum
Max Planck Society
Cheng Yu Kuo
National Sun Yat-Sen University
Tod R. Lauer
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Sang Sung Lee
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Yan Rong Li
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 875 1 L1Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ab0ec7