This is the first ever photo of a black hole, unveiled today after a decade of

A closer look at This is the first ever photo of a black hole, unveiled today after a decade of

What this BBC page shows about the black hole

This BBC News page presents the first-ever image of a black hole in the galaxy M87, showing a dark central region surrounded by a bright ring of superheated gas. The image matches theoretical expectations and was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight linked radio telescopes.

How the image was made, as described on the page

The picture was produced by combining observations from eight widely spaced radio telescopes to form a planet-sized array called the Event Horizon Telescope. Data were recorded on hundreds of hard drives and physically flown to processing centres in Boston and Bonn, then assembled using specialized algorithms developed by team members such as Katie Bouman.

Who might find this page useful

Readers who want a factual account of the first black hole image, how the observation was achieved, and its scientific significance will find this useful. It will also appeal to people interested in observational astronomy, telescope networks, and the people involved in the EHT collaboration.

Questions people ask about This is the first ever photo of a black hole, unveiled today after a decade of

Does the page say where the black hole is located?

Yes - the page says the black hole is in the galaxy M87, about 55 million light-years away (described as 500 million trillion km).

Who built the image from the telescope data?

The page credits a team of about 200 scientists in the EHT collaboration and highlights Katie Bouman for developing an algorithm that helped assemble the data.

Will the team image our galaxy's black hole next?

The page says the team is also imaging the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, which is described as harder to image for reasons discussed in the article.

This is the first ever photo of a black hole, unveiled today after a decade of was shared on NexURLs by Nexis on November 2, 2026, in Science.