AstroTalk Episode May 2, 2019

Giant Galaxy Around A Giant Black Hole. Plans for Asteroid Flyby One Decade Away. Insight Captures Sunset and Sunrise on Mars.

1:59pm - 2:54pm

The event horizon of a black hole has been photographed for the first time. The black hole has a mass of 6.5 Million suns. The image was made by the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light. The image from M87 is 55 million light years away. 99942 Apophis that will fly harmlessly by the Earth on April 13 2029, coming within 19,000 miles or 31,000 kilometers from Earth. Scientists are planning for this incredible opportunity to study this asteroid. The Insight Lander captures Sunset and Sunrise on Mars. The photos were snapped April 24 and 25, the 145th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, by a camera on the spacecraft's robotic arm. The length of day's on other planets in the Solar System.


The Giant Galaxy Around the Giant Black Hole
The galaxy M87, imaged here by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, is home to a supermassive black hole that spews two jets of material out into space at nearly the speed of light. The inset shows a close-up view of the shockwaves created by the two jets.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC
› Full image and caption
On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) unveiled the first-ever image of a black hole's event horizon, the area beyond which light cannot escape the immense gravity of the black hole. That giant black hole, with a mass of 6.5 billion Suns, is located in the elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87). EHT is an international collaboration whose support in the U.S. includes the National Science Foundation.