It is the first ever photo of a black hole to be attempted, so it’s a big deal. Scientists are collaborating to get the project done right. They want to create an earth-size virtual instrument called the Event Horizon Telescope. It’ll be a worldwide network of radio telescopes strong enough to take a picture of the huge black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Black holes are considered exotic and their gravitational pull is so strong that they trap everything, including light. Einstein was the first to hypothesize their existence in his theory of general relativity. Now it is thought that all galaxies have a huge black hole at the heart of them. One has never been caught on camera, though.
"In essence, we are making a virtual telescope with a mirror that is as big as the Earth," Doeleman said. "Each radio telescope we use can be thought of as a small silvered portion of a large mirror. With enough such silvered spots, one can start to make an image."