September 25, 2020

Simulations and observations of M87*

An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study on the data collected during the years of the area around the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87, the one in the image presented in April 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope project (EHT) project. A team of researchers led by Maciek Wielgus of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) also analyzed data not published but was part of the observations carried out between 2009 and 2013 with fewer radio telescopes. Those observations were very useful to show the changes in that area, with the shadow of the black hole M87* wobbling and with a variation in its orientation.