Hell or God's Eye?

[MineralMan]

Here's the first image ever of a supermassive black hole, just released. It's at the center of Messier 87 galaxy, the largest galaxy we know of, about 54 million light-years away. The image was put together from multiple radio telescopes on earth in a massive project to use them as one huge telescople.

It's an event that marks an enormous achievement of science and of the scientific method. My thread title is, of course, facetious. It is believed that such black holes are common at the center of many, if not most galaxies, including our own Milky Way galaxy. Now, we have confirmation of the existence of one of them.

Start with this tweet to learn more from the National Science Foundation, one of the sponsors of the research.

Link to tweet

[MineralMan]

1. Here's a link to NASA's page on the discovery:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/black-hole-image-makes-history

[Delmette2.0]

2. I like this image more.

The big picture, the surrounding area tends to explain what is going on. I know nothing about astronomy, but I am fascinated by it.

Thanks for posting the picture.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes. It does do a better job of showing the overview,

but the close-up is also important. That such a thing can be resolved at that distance is absolutely remarkable.

We live in a time period when some of the mysteries of the universe are finally being understood. We are very lucky, since humanity lived through most of history having to rely on mythology to explain things. We are entering an age of understanding, based on actual physical evidence. It is truly remarkable and a tribute to the dedication of scientists who continue to explore and share what they find with us all. No myth can do that. Myths are only guesses. Evidence tells the true story.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Interesting! Looks like the results of two galaxies colliding in the past, slowly merging into ...

one mega galaxy. I read the article, didn't see any speculation on why there were two long trailers of stars on both sides of the main mass of stars (front and back). Thanks for posting. NASA has always got tons of stuff to look at that's really neat.

[MineralMan]

4. Here's a video that zooms in on this discovery.

It gives you a better idea of the scale of this project. I highly recommend viewing it:

Link to tweet

[Delmette2.0]

5. That is so amazing.

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. A now-banned poster once tried to equate belief in black holes with belief in god.

Sure, one was predicted to exist given accurate physical models of the universe and the other is a fairy tale, but neither was proven so they were both equal, right?

Guess not.

[Major Nikon]

8. The idea that all things unproven are equal is dum as day old dogshit

It’s only true if reason has no value.

[MineralMan]

9. The word "proven" is pretty useless in both areas.

I prefer "supported by evidence" in both cases. Black holes are clearly supported by evidence. Gods are clearly not supported by evidence. Not equal at all. They never were.

[Major Nikon]

10. ...

[MineralMan]

11. LOL!

Freaking brilliant! I am stealing this RFN!