Radboud University

Africa Millimetre Telescope to bring black holes into sharper focus for movies

An international consortium led by Radboud University has secured a contract agreement for the construction of a radio telescope that will become the Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT) in Namibia. The new telescope will be an essential addition to the global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) network, which produced the historic first images of black holes. The AMT is the first African node to the global EHT network, filling a key gap in the array and providing better sensitivity to image rapid motions around black holes and to detect flaring radio sources. The AMT consortium, consisting of Radboud University, University of Oxford, University of Amsterdam, University of Namibia, University of South Africa, and University of Turku as associated member, has found a specialised partner in mtex antenna technology, which will further develop and build a proven telescope design specifically for the AMT project. The project further strengthens the international position of Radboud University in astronomical research.

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CBC - Canada's Paralympic Network

Podcast: On this week’s episode of Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald: How astronomers are capturing the first ever video of a black hole

You may have seen Black Hole, the image, captured by Event Horizon Telescopes around the world, but have you heard of the upcoming Black Hole, The Movie? This week, astronomers launched a new campaign to capture video footage of the supermassive black hole pulsing at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy. By capturing its movements, astronomers hope to answer big questions about the nature of black holes and the role they play in shaping our universe — and show that black holes are more than the cosmic “pits of despair” we often make them up to be. We spoke with: Sera Markoff is the new Plumian professor at Cambridge University and a Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. Vincent Fish is a research scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory. They both sit on the science board of the Event Horizon Telescope, the global telescope array that is currently capturing the data.

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University of Cambridge

Sera Markoff appointed 17th Plumian Professor of Astronomy

Sera Markoff has been appointed Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. One of the oldest named professorships in the world – founded in 1704 by Thomas Plume, after Sir Isaac Newton oversaw its creation – previous Plumian Professors include distinguished astronomers Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir Fred Hoyle, and Lord Martin Rees. Professor Markoff – also announced as a Fellow at Newnham College – is an internationally recognised expert on black hole astrophysics, working at the interface with astroparticle physics. Her research focuses on understanding the extreme interactions of matter occurring around compact objects like black holes, and how they determine the ways in which black holes affect their surroundings. She is a founding member of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, which brought together an array of telescopes spanning the globe and received worldwide media coverage when it captured the first groundbreaking image of a black hole and the ‘shadow’ of its event horizon in 2019.

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SciTech Daily

New high resolution simulations suggest the origin of black hole flares

Researchers at the Flatiron Institute and their collaborators found that breaking and reconnecting magnetic field lines near the event horizon release energy from a black hole’s magnetic field, accelerating particles that generate intense flares. The findings hint at exciting new possibilities in black hole observation.

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Chopping Block

“Chopping Block” interview about diversity in Astro with Visceral Change founder Sherard Robbins

“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by those doing it.” Visceral Change is a Multicultural Organizational Development Consultancy specializing in training, development, and institutional restructuring. We help organizations center their professional frameworks and practices around diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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RAS/EHT

EHT Awarded the UK Royal Astronomical Society’s 2021 Group Achievement Award

This image has already inspired millions and will continue to do so. It represents an important milestone in human ingenuity and scientific endeavour, and is opening new doorways to study the physics of accretion around super-massive black holes in completely unprecedented ways. The realisation of the EHT represented a formidable challenge and was made possible only by decades of hard work and commitment by thirteen stakeholder institutions, a variety of agencies, and more than three hundred forty researchers. This is one of the finest examples of an achievement resulting from close collaboration by researchers from around the World.

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