An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

An international collaboration using a → very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) array comprising millimeter- and → submillimeter- wavelength telescopes separated by distances comparable to the diameter of the Earth. At a nominal operating wavelength of ~1.3 mm, the EHT → angular resolution (λ/D) is ~25 μas (→ micro- → arcseconds), which is sufficient to resolve nearby → supermassive black hole

candidates on spatial and temporal scales that correspond to their → event horizons.

EHT observations toward the elliptical → galaxy M87 succeeded in obtaining the first ever
image of its supermassive black hole (EHT Collaboration, 2019, ApJL 875, L1-L6).

The telescopes contributing to this result were ALMA, APEX, the IRAM 30-m telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano, the Submillimeter Array, the Submillimeter Telescope, and the South Pole Telescope. Petabytes of raw data from the telescopes were combined by highly specialized supercomputers hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and MIT Haystack Observatory.

The construction of the EHT and the M87 black hole observation result from decades of observational, technical, and theoretical work in close collaboration by researchers from around the world. Thirteen partner institutions worked together to create the EHT, using both pre-existing infrastructure and support from a variety of agencies. Key funding was provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the EU’s European Research Council (ERC), and funding agencies in East Asia.

See also: → event; → horizon; → telescope.