Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video] • Hacker News Board

acl777 wrote: post #17

There are people that can't believe the Earth is round... I can't imagine what "alternative explanation" will be made to explain a black hole...

Potentially none. They can just deny its existence and pretend this is a fabrication.

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#24

Post by nathanm412 » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:21 PM UTC

piker wrote: post #20

ArtWomb wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the image itself: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3y037OW0AQmpAf.jpg

Is this image lossy compressed by Twitter? Is there an official release?

https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/formedia...

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#25

Post by ragebol » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:21 PM UTC

turshija wrote: post #19

Related video, made by Veritasium yesterday, is one of my favorite videos in a long time. He explained how the prediction of this image was made (before the image got released) and the video is great and fun to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUyH3XhpLTo

Note that the prediction of the light being brighter on one side did come out.

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#26

Post by crocal » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:21 PM UTC

My God, it's full of stars!

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#27

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:22 PM UTC

Good video that correctly predicted the image and describes why it looks the way it does [1].

TL; DR The dark area is the entire surface of the event horizon, including the side facing away from us, plus some more due to photons missing the event horizon "directly" being drawn in. One side is brighter due to its being Doppler boosted.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUyH3XhpLTo

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#28

Post by novaRom » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:22 PM UTC

mkurz wrote: post #4

Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr20f19czeE

Thanks! Over 150,000 viewers right now.

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#29

Post by gigatexal » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:24 PM UTC

Any word if Einstein's predictions are correct or refuted? There was word that if the shadow looked a certain way it could mean that relativity is incomplete.

Re: Unveiling the first-ever image of a black hole [video]

#30

Post by piker » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 1:24 PM UTC

Higher resolution official release seems to be: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/blackholes/download...