Sarah Markoff, a professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at the University of Cambridge and co-founder of EHT, calls this new campaign "revolutionary" due to its scientific significance and technical challenges.
According to her, the data obtained could significantly enhance the understanding of black hole rotation and the mechanisms that trigger powerful jets — some of the most pressing questions in modern astrophysics.
Markoff also added that, despite their frightening reputation, black holes may hold the key to unraveling the mystery of how the first galaxies formed and evolved over time.
The EHT project is a global network of 12 radio telescopes distributed around the world, from Antarctica to Spain and South Korea. In 2019, the consortium first demonstrated an image of a black hole's shadow. As part of the new research campaign, scientists hope to obtain complete images of the object approximately every three days as the Earth rotates and the black hole M87 comes into the view of various telescopes.
