After the black hole image, astronomers will test Einstein’s theory

After posting a file clearer picture of arc A*The Black hole The vast space in the center of the Milky Way, EHT (Event Horizon Telescope) scientists will now focus on making new observations and, using the data they already have, test the limits of General theory of relativity by Albert Einstein.

Even the data collected in the studies released this week will have to be re-evaluated. That’s because two other observations have already been made with additional telescopes in the group’s original network of eight. It is hoped with the new images that the resolution of the image released yesterday will be better, and will facilitate the search. But there are no expectations of new announcements from the team.

“The data is there. We collected the data in 2018 with an additional telescope, and in 2022 with three additional telescopes, and we’re working hard to get that to you as soon as possible. But I can’t make any promises about when,” he said. Brazilian EHT researcher Lea Medeiros of the New Jersey Institute for Advanced Study, to North American Journalism.

Scientists are waiting for new images to confirm whether the data is consistent with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. A more in-depth analysis might see if this theory has “blind spots” when looking at the extreme regions around black holes.

“This should give us a hint, at some point, perhaps of something different from the way we’ve formulated gravity with general relativity so far,” says researcher Feryal Özel of the University of Arizona.

Sagittarius A* was photographed on Thursday (12), about 27,000 light-years away from Earth, which is very close to our planet compared to our own. The first black hole was detected by the EHT in 2019Messier 87, which is 50 million light-years from Earth.