The EHT recently imaged the shadows around the supermassive black holes in M 87 and Sgr A* at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Since angular resolution increases with decreasing observing wavelength, observations at a shorter wavelength provide an even sharper view into the immediate surroundings of black holes. A new publication on results of a VLBI pilot experiment of EHT telescopes mutually observing at the short wavelength of 0.87 mm now demonstrates the technical feasibility and sets a new record in angular resolution for ground-based radio-interferometry. This achievement opens up a new window for the study of black holes and the origin of radio-jets.
The results were published in The Astronomical Journal: First Very Long Baseline Interferometry Detections at 870μm; Alexander W. Raymond et al., Astronomical Journal, 27 August 2024, DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad5bdb.
Read the MPIfR press release here and the ESO press release here.
Image: © Christian M. Fromm, Julius-Maximilian University, Würzburg; These computer-simulated images show the emission near the event horizon of a black hole resembling Sgr A* at observing wavelength of 1.3 mm (left) and 0.87 mm (right). They highlight how much more detail can be seen when observing a black hole at shorter wavelengths. The horizontal bar denotes an angular scale of 40 microarcseconds.
