This time, 9 Korean researchers and 6 institutions participated to provide data, etc.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) The ‘Event Horizon Telescope’ (EHT) cooperation team participated in by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KAS) captured and released the supermassive black hole Sagittarius (Sgr A*) at the center of the Milky Way for the first time ever in history.
The image is an observed Sagittarius A black hole image. The black part at the center is the black hole and the shadow containing the black hole, and the shiny part of the ring is light bent by the black hole’s gravity. 2022.5.12 [한국천문연구원·EHT 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지] photo@yna.co.kr
(Daejeon = Yonhap News) Reporter Junho Kim = An international joint research team at the ‘Event Horizon Telescope’ (EHT) participated in by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KAS) captured an image of the Sagittarius A black hole in the center of our galaxy and released it on the 12th.
The Sagittarius A black hole is the second black hole photographed and released by the EHT team following M87 in 2019.
More than 300 EHT researchers from 80 institutions around the world succeeded in observing a black hole with the ‘Event Horizon Telescope’, which connects eight radio telescopes.
In a video briefing held on the same day, the research team, including Dr. Son Bong-won of the Astronomy Research Institute, said, “The Sagittarius A black hole is the closest black hole among the black holes directly observed by mankind due to collective intelligence. We are preparing to participate directly in the event.”
The following is a Q&A with the researchers.
— What are the similarities and differences between the galaxy M87 black hole captured in 2019 and the Sagittarius A black hole?
The Sagittarius A black hole is regarding 27,000 light-years from Earth and has a mass of regarding 4 million times that of the Sun. The distance from the solar system is regarding 1/200th that of the galaxy M87 black hole, so it is a strong target for black hole research.
However, since it has a mass 1,500 times smaller than that of M87, the gas flow around the black hole changes rapidly, and the image suffers from severe scattering effects, making it difficult to observe compared to M87.
One thing in common is that the observed donut-shaped images are similar. There are areas where there is no light, such as the hole in the middle. What they have in common is that they are celestial bodies with an ‘event horizon’ that is a boundary region.
It can be said that the celestial body has many similarities and many other points.
— What role did Korea play this time?
▲ Nine Korean researchers and six institutions participated.
The Astronomical Institute operates the Korea Space Radio Observation Network (KVN).
Data used as auxiliary data for interpreting the results of this study were provided along with the East Asian Space Radio Observation Network (EAVN) including KVN.
The Astronomical Institute is also participating in ALMA, a radio telescope constructed and operated in Chile’s Atacama Desert, which constitutes the EHT.
In the future, we plan to participate in EHT observation as well.
KVN can observe multiple frequencies simultaneously and has proven excellent performance in correcting difficult-to-detect problems due to atmospheric conditions. We received a request to participate in the Next Generation EHT project.
Not only are excellent foreign researchers exchanging experiences and skills in Korea, but Koreans also go abroad to work. Without such international cooperation, research becomes difficult.
It is a study result that shows the importance of international cooperation.
— What is the next observation goal?
▲ Right now, I have only looked around the shadows of black holes, but as the number of telescopes increases and the image sensitivity and quality and sensitivity to various structures increase, we will be able to observe the phenomena occurring around more black holes. KVN is also preparing to play a more important role.
kjunho@yna.co.kr
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