Why this black hole photo is such a big deal
What it took to collect these 54-million-year-old photons from a supermassive black hole.
Become a Video Lab member! http://bit.ly/video-lab
This is an updated version of a video we published in 2016 about the Event Horizon Telescope, an international collaboration to image a black hole for the first time in human history.
On April 10, 2019, the team announced their results: They had successfully imaged the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy m87, which is nearly 54 million light-years away from us. They were able to achieve unprecedented resolution using very long baseline interferometry, which combines the observations of multiple radio telescopes across the globe.
The team wanted to find out whether Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity holds up in the extreme environment of black holes, and the results do, in fact, seem to be consistent with the predictions. In the future, we may see more and shaper images of black holes as the team targets smaller wavelengths of light and recruits more telescopes. Eventually, they may include an orbiting space telescope.
Vox Observatory takes a magnifying glass to some of life’s most interesting questions with a focus on science and technology.
Watch other Vox Observatory videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAoEHR4aW8I&list=PLJ8cMiYb3G5eNMPb_MTRyLDzm_AOIk7UF
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com
Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Or our podcasts: https://www.vox.com/podcasts
Follow Vox on Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Or on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
@Vox
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
hey, if you want to help us make more videos like this, I want to tell you about the Vox Video L—WAIT DON'T GO! just give me a second- At the end of this i'm going to share a great gif so standby. So the Video Lab is a membership program we set up so that viewers could support our work directly. If one of our videos has ever been worth the price of a mediocre sandwich to you, think about joining the Video Lab (wait just checked – you can't even get a $5 footlong at Subway anymore!). Being a member gives you access to behind-the-scenes videos and q&as, but most importantly, it really helps keep our channel and team sustainable and you can cancel anytime. here's where you can learn more and sign up: http://bit.ly/vox-video-membership
ok i thank you dearly for listening and here is your well-earned gif: https://gfycat.com/ConstantDecimalKarakul
-joss
@curtlafond2731
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
This is wicked awesome! Congratulations, scientists!
Imagine if our society could focus on brilliant scientific achievements like this instead of that horrible man.
@christophergarcia2844
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Nobody:
A black hole seeing light: "Absolutely not!"
@samuelmiensinompe4902
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
This shows what I have been stating for a long time. Black Holes aka Dark Collapsed Stars are oval in shape due to their overwhelming rotational speed.
@micky1up
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
its not a big deal because its NOT a photo of a black hole ! at best its a computer generated image of the disc of material near a black hole because a black hole by its very definition can never be imaged
@YashwantSahu-i6x3u
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
6:07 so thats why its real- says Dumbeldore calmly. 😊😁
@Baked-123
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
I don’t think anyone has mentioned that we just proved another theory correct!
@thecobra8508
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
i like to say that inside a black hole physics goes all "wibbly wobbly"
@Zoe-c9z
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
It looks like a reverse eclipse doesn't it?😅
@scrufhack3
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
So scientists are looking for a black hole in a black sky? That is like searching for a drop of fresh water in the ocean.
@ricanzombie5731
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
This is huge the world should b more excited about it..this is history wish Einstein couldve seen it
@WillDaBeast1
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
You can’t say that the center of the black hole is the singularity because space time becomes so warped inside a black hole that a center has no meaning.
@oliverlieberman
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Wow so a picture of something we no nothing about very cool. I don’t really know how to process looking at something that I have no actual comprehension of. Something beyond understanding that bends light moves plants like toys. Seeing is believing but what should I believe when I don’t really know what I’m seeing.
@n00bm4str69
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Been 3yrs already? Wow
@MrRennen
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
"Aluminum dishes on top of mountains"
Bro really juat said that 💀
@lockethomas7165
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Albert Einstein got deported to America for being a criminal and a fraud.
@phyllis9750
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Really? Someone's so dense that they don't get how HUGE this is? Well DUH!!! I'm so excited by this. What a great time to be alive! A real black hole! Not just the physics on a black board, not just because Einstein said so, but a real IMAGE. Simply WOW!
@narganeg
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
It's been THREE YEARS? Nearly FOUR!? It literally feels like it happened last year.
@hoangnguyenanh815
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Nah, it's not that hard. Just give the astronaut the imax camera like Nolan does 😀
@karl2531
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
It's not a black hole, it's a huge asteroid or comet, or rock of some kind, with gravitational lensing, the orange stars behind it are magnified. The so called polarised light proof, actually shows the star behind moving as a separate entity having a tail of polarised light swirl connected to it, the swirl is not connected to the dark object. The dark object has no swirl about it. .. the dark object has random shapes on its sides like a large rock, and rotates about 2 planes of rotation, … There is no freedom of speech about this, I tried to ask the prize winner's for this at NASA and they were really rude and defensive and deleted my comment and entire account? I just said I'm a member of the public asking a honest question? Is it really a black hole? … It's a theory applied to the centre of our galaxy, based on the assumption that our galaxy rotates, it does not rotate, all the stars in the galactic arm travel at the same speed , indicating that the stars travel in a straight line, not rotary. The rotation is an illusion created by gravitational lensing causing gravitational mirroring. The galaxy only has one arm, the other is a reflection. There is no rotating vortices, and no centre to the galaxy, and therefore no rotating geometry upon which to place this black hole theory.
@Qeel_K
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
When interstellar is real
@falingunit
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
its my profile picture, lessgooo
@JunesCloud
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
5:04 alien probably laugh
@email5023
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
0:03 – Privileged? Were they treated better than some lower social economic telescopes?
@human8985
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
the blackhole look blurred
@devinstallworth1558
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
someone gtta try n go threw one of these one day
@pointseeker9313
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
The jumbled discovery minimally reproduce because romanian basally warn pace a abandoned bath. next, muddled drawbridge
@caedgeworth
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
The whole infinite part really f** with my head
@souvikcseiitk
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Remember when we had room sized computers? Believe me there will be a day when we'll sit on a craft for a tour to Saggitarious A
@garson8217
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
if you just observe that is going on, to extract that kind of image from that data is just simply ridiculous.
@johannabagelius4177
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
It was so cool because we used the E=mc2 formula in physics class yesterday
@Lucyandcaroline
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
wow
@New-vb7gj
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
why you love physics
?
@janratanak
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Vox Is The scarEd whitty
@janratanak
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
I Sc AHHHHHHH OMG OMGG OMG 😱 IS BLACK HOLE 🕳
@janratanak
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Vox
@janratanak
March 19, 2026 at 12:37 am
Vox
Comments are closed.