Black hole SHOCK: Astronomers propose giant space telescopes can CAPTURE clear black holes

On April 10 this year, scientists unveiled the world’s first ever picture of a black hole at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The landmark scientific achievement was the result of two years of gruelling work and radio telescope observations made by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team. But as breathtaking and awe-inspiring the image was, the EHT team was limited by the available radio frequencies and the number of linked telescopes at their disposal – eight. As a result, the black hole picture appears rather blurry and out of focus.

To combat this, a team of scientists in the Netherlands have unveiled their bold plan to capture better, bigger and higher resolution black hole images.

The plan was published by Radboud University astronomers, in partnership with the European Space Agency, in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The plan involves constructing and sending a network of radio telescopes into space.

Here on Earth, the EHT team observed M87 at radio frequencies around 1.3-millimetres.

READ MORE: Black hole picture explained: How did scientists take the photo?

In space, however, astronomers can reach much higher frequencies needed to snap clearer pictures of black holes.

Freek Roelofs, a PhD candidate at Radboud, said: “There are a lot of advantages to using satellites instead of permanent radio telescopes on Earth, as with the Event Horizon Telescope.

“In space, you can make observations at higher frequencies, because the frequencies from Earth are filtered out by the atmosphere.

“The distance between the telescopes in space is also larger. This allows us to take a big step forward.

READ MORE: Einstein was RIGHT: How first ever black hole picture CONFIRMS 100-year-old cosmic theory

“We would be able to take images with a resolution more than five times what is possible with EHT.”

In their paper, the scientist proposed the construction of the Event Horizon Imager (EHI).

The EHI would be composed of two to three satellites in medium-Earth orbit (MEO).

The radio telescopes would then try to image the black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy – Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).

READ MORE: What would happen if the Earth went into a black hole?

The paper reads: “Our preliminary study of the EHI concept shows that is potentially of high scientific value.

“It could be used to measure black hole shadows much more precisely than with ground-based VLBI, allowing for stronger tests of general relativity and accretion models.”

But before any of these plans can take off from the ground, EHT astronomers hope to refine their observations to a clearer frequency of 0.8-millimetres.

Read more about how the EHT hopes to take pictures of the Milky Way black hole here.

source: express.co.uk