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Event Horizon presentation in Hilo this Friday:
Friday, April 12 @ 6pm
Halelelo on the University of Hawaii, Hilo campus
113 Nowelo St. Hilo, HI 96720
FREE ADMISSION!
Full details and participants:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3x2UyJWwAA5Znw?format=jpg&name=small
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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This popped into my inbox this evening. I've never read anything on the site before, but quite liked what they had to say regarding the black hole news and of course, a little more indirectly, telescopes such as the TMT, e.g.,:
" But think of it this way: if you are 30 and your child is 5, he or she will have access to knowledge that not only did you not know, but that nobody in the history of humanity has known - and which most of mankind believed could not possibly exist. Regardless of whether average folks are paying attention or not, science is in a golden age and rewards for the next generation will be rich."
https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2019/04...orial.html
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All I can say is this:
https://scifanatic-wpengine.netdna-ssl.c...m-head.jpg
Powehi, the Hawaiian name given to the black hole in M87, has stirred up some controversy. I don't what to say other than we should get the county council in on it as it would just make the farce even more ridiculous.
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/201...tle-fuzzy/
Two excerpts, the first from someone I know:
" “This isn’t astronomers naming this,” [Jess Dempsey] said. “This is coming from a cultural expert and language expert. This is him coming to the table and giving us a gift of this name. It’s a gift from Hawaiian culture and history, not the other way around.”"
And from someone I don't know:
" “This is exactly the Pluto situation,” Pasachoff said."
Ridiculous. Pluto is still called Pluto, it's just not classified as a planet anymore, basically because it isn't one. The black hole in M87 is still a black hole and has been named by those involved in the project.
" As astronomers gaze further into the cosmos, Pasachoff said, “we will need more names.”"
It's already got a name and it's a good one.
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Video of Event Horizon Black Hole Presentation held in Hilo Friday:
http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2019/0...d-in-hilo/
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Other targets in the future could include star-forming regions in the Galaxy ... so they might start to look at jets and dust/gas inflow and outflows in such regions
TomK,
This may be different from your comment about jets and gas in/outflows as it doesn't mention star formations, but it's another impressive photo of Powehi (M87), zoomed out, showing a larger area with high energy particle jets:
... view the full length of the jet of high-energy particles launched by the intense gravitational and magnetic fields around the black hole.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/black-hole...g-zoom-out
I found my earlier question about other projects which the Event Horizon team might study addressed in this article:
Black hole picture could unlock new era in astronomy
The Event Horizon Telescope will be a godsend for many other kinds of astronomical observations beyond black holes.
“The resolving power of the telescope is just astonishing... They are eager to exploit that power to watch infant planets forming around other stars or to observe delicate structures in distant galaxies.
The possibilities are almost endless.
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/bla...ncna993531
And here we are, on the precipice of history. Look up, we on the Big Island live within sight of Mauna Kea and her observatories, key components in the Event Horizon collaboration. Incredible.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Thanks, HOTPE. Star and planet formation are tied together. Infalling gas in a molecular cloud creates a clump dense enough that nuclear fusion starts and a star is formed. The baby star then has enough energy to stop the infalling gas as its thermal energy starts to blow away all the material that was falling into it. At some point you get jets of gas being blown away from the star, presumably from the material that was infalling and has now formed a nuclear fusion monster. Our sun was once like this.
In the meantime, young planets are also being formed around the new star. You're right to say I didn't mention planet formation but having the resolution to see exactly what's going on around a new-born star is going to revolutionize our understanding of how stars and planets form - assuming the EHT retains funding to do that.
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I wonder if the technique could be used within our own solar system? Perhaps we could learn more about the sun, or image mercury or venus better than ever before? Is it fast enough to capture a comet?
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not-quite-off-topic: For just over 3 years now, there has been a free tour program for residents of Hawai'i, where you are taken inside some of the observatories to see the big iron, up close and personal.
We did this tour a couple years back, and it was nothing short of amazing and awe-inspiring. We got to visit the JCMT and the Subarau telescope on our tour. At the JCMT, is was a delight to geek-out with the technician and operator, who seemed quite eager to answer any and all questions. At the Subaru, I got to lay on the floor directly beneath the telescope, staring up at this immense precision machine designed solely to increase our knowledge of the universe. Highly recommended, but I got quite a head rush from then standing up too quickly !
I don't know if it's still part of the program, but the tour at the time also included free lunch in the cafeteria at Hale P#333;haku.
Anyway, highly recommended:
http://kamaainaobservatoryexperience.org/
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randomq - I like your thinking, but...
The sun is not a viable target for the EHT, it's too hot and not bright in the submillimeter wavelength regime. In addition, the EHT telescopes are not designed to point at the sun for two reasons - they would heat up and precision of their optics would be lost, and secondly they would focus sunlight onto their receivers and they really don't work well if they heat up. Same reason with Mercury - too close to the sun and not bright at submillimeter wavelengths.
Comets might be a target, they are bright at the relevant wavelengths but am not sure what would be learned - we already have close-up observations of them from probes and ground-based observatories. Same for asteroids.
The EHT is really designed for much more distant targets.
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