02-20-2021, 07:49 PM
The black hole Cygnus X-1 is far larger than previously thought, and Stephen Hawking lost his bet.
If you watch the video, look for the graphic of the the Very Long Baseline Array's size, which is possible because the JCMT on Mauna Kea is a component. The entirety of the VLBA is what made this discovery possible. Now imagine if no telescopes in Hawaii could collaborate and the array becomes about half the size it is now, reducing it's effective range.*
Alex Tetarenko, who works at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), has been collaborating with an international team of researchers to analyze new observations of the first black hole ever detected, Cygnus X-1. Their research shows that the system contains the most massive stellar-mass black hole ever detected without the use of gravitational waves.
In this latest work, astronomers observed a full orbit of the black hole over a six day period using the Very Long Baseline Array — a continent-sized radio telescope made up of 10 dishes spread across the United States — together with a clever technique to measure distances in space.
“One of the telescopes in the Very Long Baseline Array is located in Hawaii on the slopes of Maunakea, and this antenna plays a critical role in making it possible to do this kind of science,” Tetarenko explained.
As the next generation of telescopes comes online, their improved sensitivity reveals the universe in increasingly more detail, leveraging decades of effort invested by scientists and research teams around the world to better understand the cosmos and the exotic and extreme objects that exist.
https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2021/02/...-detected/
* One might call the insistence by some for removing telescopes on Mauna Kea... perhaps... shortsighted.
If you watch the video, look for the graphic of the the Very Long Baseline Array's size, which is possible because the JCMT on Mauna Kea is a component. The entirety of the VLBA is what made this discovery possible. Now imagine if no telescopes in Hawaii could collaborate and the array becomes about half the size it is now, reducing it's effective range.*
Alex Tetarenko, who works at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), has been collaborating with an international team of researchers to analyze new observations of the first black hole ever detected, Cygnus X-1. Their research shows that the system contains the most massive stellar-mass black hole ever detected without the use of gravitational waves.
In this latest work, astronomers observed a full orbit of the black hole over a six day period using the Very Long Baseline Array — a continent-sized radio telescope made up of 10 dishes spread across the United States — together with a clever technique to measure distances in space.
“One of the telescopes in the Very Long Baseline Array is located in Hawaii on the slopes of Maunakea, and this antenna plays a critical role in making it possible to do this kind of science,” Tetarenko explained.
As the next generation of telescopes comes online, their improved sensitivity reveals the universe in increasingly more detail, leveraging decades of effort invested by scientists and research teams around the world to better understand the cosmos and the exotic and extreme objects that exist.
https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2021/02/...-detected/
* One might call the insistence by some for removing telescopes on Mauna Kea... perhaps... shortsighted.