Context:
Recently, Earth-wide telescope confirmed that the black hole shadow was ‘real’
- The EHT’s previous run had revealed the black hole’s ‘shadow’ and now says it is real with the findings of black hole’s mass and find that its size and shape align with the predictions of the general theory of relativity.
Event Horizon Telescope (ETH):
- A worldwide network of radio telescopes that work together
- A planet-scale array of 8 ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration.
- Links telescopes around the globe to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.
- It comprises of 11 antennas
- Technology – Very-long baseline interferometry
- Information gathered by each telescope about the observed object is synchronized with data from other telescopes using highly accurate clocks.
- Observations by ETH –
- Images of the black hole “shadow”
- Detected a bright, asymmetric ring of light consistent with the presence of a supermassive black hole.
Black Hole Shadow:
- A perfectly dark region due to the black hole blocking all light coming from farther away, surrounded by the bright ring emissions.
- This absence has the shape of the black hole’s event horizon, so it provides an essential test of Einstein’s theory of gravity.
- It also provides estimates of the black hole’s spin, as well as information about the behavior of matter under strong gravity.
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI):
- An advanced technique in astronomy coupling radio telescopes in different nations together to form a single radio telescope of continental.
- Measures the position of radio antennas relative to radio sources in quasars.
- Quasar is the bright core of an active galaxy
- Establishes a direct link between the terrestrial and the celestial reference frames.
Read more about: Black Hole, ALMA telescope, Quasars, Einstein theory of gravity
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
In the context of modern scientific research, consider the following statements about ‘IceCube’, .a particle detector located at South Pole, which was recently in the news:
1. It is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice.
2. It is a powerful telescope to search for dark matter.
3. It is buried deep in the ice.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2015 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (d)
