Physics Program Presents

First Sight of a Black Hole? 

Since Einstein first explained that gravity could be thought of as the bending of space and time, this theory has been used to make numerous surprising  predictions. One of these is the existence of black holes, regions of space and time where mass has been so compacted that gravity’s pull has become inexorable. The evidence that black holes are part of nature has grown steadily over the last 45 years, but we have never been able to look at a black hole and its vicinity directly. Two years ago a team of astronomers and physicists took data on a networked collection of radio telescopes distributed over several continents and turned the entire earth into an interferometer. The resulting telescope is so sensitive that it could image an orange on the moon if it emitted radio waves. On Wednesday, April 10, at 9am EDT, the Event Horizon Telescope team will announce their results in a web conference. We will explain the history and setup of the measurement and discuss the recently reported results of this exciting experiment.

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For more information, call 845-758-7302, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT/GMT-4

Location: Hegeman 107

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