Astronomers make the highest-resolution radio observations ever

The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, a global network of radio telescopes funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and international partners, has achieved the highest resolution radio observations of astronomical objects ever obtained.

For this experiment, the researchers detected radio waves from distant galaxies at a wavelength of 0.87 mm, a substantial improvement from the 1.3 mm wavelength observations the collaboration previously used to image supermassive black holes in two galaxies. The results were published in The Astronomical Journal.

Although the researchers did not image a black hole in this experiment, they estimate that the new method will enable future images of black holes to be 50% more detailed than before, producing more information about the nature of the enigmatic cosmic objects.

"This is a critically important technical advance, demonstrating an observational capability which will be essential for deeper understanding of the physics behind many astrophysical objects," says Nigel Sharp, program director in the NSF Division of Physics.

"With such observations, some of the mysteries of black holes will be solved," says Joe Pesce, program director for the NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory.