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The Darkest Voids in The Universe
Astronomers are finally getting a glimpse of the most extreme and mysterious objects in creation
From a safe distance — fifty-three million light years, to be precise — it looks like nothing special. A fuzzy orange halo, a small dark spot, invisible to all but the most powerful telescopes. But this is a black hole, and a big one at that, one of the most terrifying and mysterious objects in the Universe. So big that no ray of light can ever escape, so dense that it brings an end to time itself.
Despite its frightening size, it was surprisingly hard to photograph. Black holes emit no light, almost by definition, which rules out the usual routes astronomers use to catch a glimpse of distant objects. Instead they looked to the surroundings of the black hole, hoping they would give a hint to the presence of one of the deepest voids in creation.
Anything that gets too close to a black hole — be it a star, planet, or an unfortunate astronaut — will be ripped apart by intense gravitational forces. The resulting debris tends to stick around for a while, before either falling into the black hole or getting flung out at tremendous speed.
Two years ago, when astronomers tried imaging a black hole for the first time, they chose M87*, one of the biggest visible…
