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SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/astro-eht-m87

The first image of a black hole, released in 2019, showed the black hole in which galaxy?

Messier 87, 55 million light-years away.

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  1. Our own Milky Way
  2. Messier 87 ✔
  3. Andromeda

Why: The Event Horizon Telescope linked radio dishes worldwide into an Earth-sized virtual telescope. It imaged the shadow of M87's black hole, 6.5 billion times the Sun's mass. The Milky Way's black hole followed in 2022.

Huh, didn't know that: The 2017 observing campaign combined eight ground-based radio telescopes into one planet-scale array.

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References

Answer: Messier 87. The Event Horizon Telescope linked radio dishes worldwide into an Earth-sized virtual telescope. It imaged the shadow of M87's black hole, 6.5 billion times the Sun's mass. The Milky Way's black hole followed in 2022.

  1. ESO press release eso1907, Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole www.eso.org/public/news/eso1907
    The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87
    Checked 2026-10-10.

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