New analysis of black hole reveals a wobbling shadow

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration delivered the first image of a black hole, revealing M87*—the supermassive object in the center of the M87 galaxy. The team has now used the lessons learned last year to analyze the archival data sets from 2009-2013, some of them not published before.

The analysis reveals the behavior of the black hole image across multiple years, indicating persistence of the crescent-like shadow feature, but also variation of its orientation—the crescent appears to be wobbling.

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Credit: M. Wielgus and the EHT Collaboration

An animation showing the consistency of the measured ring diameter and the uncertainties of the orientation measurement.

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Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have seen that the famous giant black hole in Messier 87, or M87, is propelling particles at speeds greater than 99% of the speed of light.

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first image of a black hole with observations of Messier 87 last April, making it arguably the Universe's most famous black hole.

Meanwhile, astronomers have studied a jet of high energy particles — powered by the black hole — blasting out of the center of M87 in radio, optical, and X-ray light for many years.