What Earth Owes to Black Holes
The cosmic objects have a reputation as monstrous maws, but without them the universe would make less sense.
by Marina Koren
Oct 07, 2020
3 minutes
The first picture ever captured of a black hole, one situated in the center of another galaxy, was pretty blurry. Seen in silhouette, it appeared fuzzy, as did the ring of hot gas surrounding it. The reaction of the public did not necessarily match the unalloyed joy of astronomers accustomed to extracting cosmic wonders from lines in a graph. To anyone more familiar with black holes from epic space films, this one mostly looked like a flame-glazed donut.
But that portrait is one of the most extraordinary achievements.
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