The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team plans to release clearer images next year of a black hole in the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), as well as dynamic images of another black hole in the center of our galaxy, an Academia Sinica researcher said yesterday.
The international team in April last year released the first-ever image of the black hole at the center of M87, an image derived in 2017 through a virtual Earth-size telescope that involved eight arrays.
Academia Sinica researchers helped operate three of the arrays, including the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope and the Sub-Millimeter Array in Hawaii, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile.
Photo courtesy of Chen Ming-tang
Having lived in Hawaii since 2002 to operate telescopes, Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂), a research fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics said that the EHT team plans to publish clearer images of the M87 black hole next year.
After the Greenland Telescope, a project led by the institute, joined the EHT in 2018, they have derived clearer images of the M87 black hole, which would allow scientists to study its changes in more depth, he said.
The team also plans to release the images of another smaller black hole in the Sagittarius A* region at the center of our galaxy, which were captured in 2017, Chen said, adding that processing the data is time-consuming.
Photo provided by Discovery
The movement of the smaller black hole, which has only a one-1000th the mass of the M87 black hole, could be more easily observed with current technology, Chen said.
He is glad to see this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to black hole researchers, after the Nobel committee in 2017 recognized the research on gravitational waves, a phenomenon pertinent to black holes, Chen said, adding that Taiwan is also playing a part in the global pursuit of black hole mysteries.
Asked about the researchers’ next step, Chen said that he hopes to relocate the Greenland Telescope from its position at the Thule Air Base to a better location atop a 3,200m peak on the Greenland ice sheet, a goal announced by the institute in 2018.
However, there is little progress so far due to travel restrictions under the impact of COVID-19 and a lack of funding, Chen said.
Ministry of Science and Technology data showed that it has allocated an annual average of NT$100 million (US$3.45 million) over the past five years to support projects related to black hole observations.
Relocating the telescope would require US$25 million to move the telescope and an annual spending of US$4 million for maintenance at the remote location, the data showed.
Academia Sinica said it would continue to promote research on black holes and it is looking forward to the next scientific breakthroughs.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
RSS