What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image? The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern) What stellar content do we want to share with Twitter?Does the “photo of a black hole” taken by EHT actually depict a visible light-based scenario?Ramifications of black hole stellar systemHow does an accreting black hole acquire magnetic fields?How does the Event Horizon Telescope implement the interferometry?Maximum spin rate of a black hole?Black hole without singularity?Shouldn't we not be able to see some black holes?Does matter accelerate to the speed of light as it approaches the singularity?M87 Black hole. Why can we see the blackness?Is this the best non-radio image of whatever's at the center of M87? How was it taken?Does the “photo of a black hole” taken by EHT actually depict a visible light-based scenario?

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What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?



The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)
What stellar content do we want to share with Twitter?Does the “photo of a black hole” taken by EHT actually depict a visible light-based scenario?Ramifications of black hole stellar systemHow does an accreting black hole acquire magnetic fields?How does the Event Horizon Telescope implement the interferometry?Maximum spin rate of a black hole?Black hole without singularity?Shouldn't we not be able to see some black holes?Does matter accelerate to the speed of light as it approaches the singularity?M87 Black hole. Why can we see the blackness?Is this the best non-radio image of whatever's at the center of M87? How was it taken?Does the “photo of a black hole” taken by EHT actually depict a visible light-based scenario?










4












$begingroup$


The EHT has published the first image of a black hole. It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk. I've been through the reports in the popular press but none mention the light wavelengths this was taken at. Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?



enter image description here










share|improve this question









$endgroup$



migrated from space.stackexchange.com yesterday


This question came from our site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts.













  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
    $endgroup$
    – Dave Gremlin
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
    $endgroup$
    – Steve Linton
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
    $endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    yesterday















4












$begingroup$


The EHT has published the first image of a black hole. It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk. I've been through the reports in the popular press but none mention the light wavelengths this was taken at. Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?



enter image description here










share|improve this question









$endgroup$



migrated from space.stackexchange.com yesterday


This question came from our site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts.













  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
    $endgroup$
    – Dave Gremlin
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
    $endgroup$
    – Steve Linton
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
    $endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    yesterday













4












4








4





$begingroup$


The EHT has published the first image of a black hole. It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk. I've been through the reports in the popular press but none mention the light wavelengths this was taken at. Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?



enter image description here










share|improve this question









$endgroup$




The EHT has published the first image of a black hole. It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk. I've been through the reports in the popular press but none mention the light wavelengths this was taken at. Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?



enter image description here







radio-telescope black-hole






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked yesterday









Dave GremlinDave Gremlin

1312




1312




migrated from space.stackexchange.com yesterday


This question came from our site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts.









migrated from space.stackexchange.com yesterday


This question came from our site for spacecraft operators, scientists, engineers, and enthusiasts.









  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
    $endgroup$
    – Dave Gremlin
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
    $endgroup$
    – Steve Linton
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
    $endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    yesterday












  • 1




    $begingroup$
    @uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
    $endgroup$
    – Dave Gremlin
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
    $endgroup$
    – Steve Linton
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
    $endgroup$
    – Hobbes
    yesterday







1




1




$begingroup$
@uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
$endgroup$
– Dave Gremlin
yesterday




$begingroup$
@uhoh Thanks for that. I saw the story and photo, couldn't find what the wavelengths were and though 'those nice people at space.stackexchange will know'. To be honest I'd looked at www.phys.org and a few other sites but didn't think to try Wikipedia and I didn't realise the EHT had its own website so you could call this out for not having done enough research. Not sure who added the radio-telescope tag, I was under the impression that all the EHT telescopes were visual or IR
$endgroup$
– Dave Gremlin
yesterday












$begingroup$
@Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
yesterday




$begingroup$
@Hobbes I wonder then if it is time to see if we can better codify where the line is for the future? Maybe the existence these two tags unfairly invites people to ask questions that will then be closed for example. Maybe we can think of a "rule of thumb" that will help people know where better to ask. The problem with closing a good question as off-topic is that it either stays on hold, then closed (and is therefore rendered unanswerable) or eventually gets moved, which is extra work for the mods.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
yesterday












$begingroup$
@DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
yesterday




$begingroup$
@DaveGremlin if you click the word "edited" below your question, to the left of your icon, you can see the revision history of your question, and that I added it. I did primarily because the question turns out to be about radiotelescopes, and adding an appropriate tag makes it easier for future readers to find it. It also helps in the migration process I believe. There needs to be some overlap in tagging between the old site (here) and the new site (Astronomy) if it is to be migrated. This probably is a good candidate for that.
$endgroup$
– uhoh
yesterday












$begingroup$
I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
$endgroup$
– Steve Linton
yesterday




$begingroup$
I'm not sure "It is the event horizon of the singularity in M87 against its accretion disk." is a very accurate statement. The image arises from the paths that microwaves from the accretion disk follow in this highly warped space-time. The end result is that fewer come to us along a straight path from the event horizon and more come from the sides, especially one side, but it would be a mistake to think of this as too direct a representation of what is there.
$endgroup$
– Steve Linton
yesterday












$begingroup$
When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
$endgroup$
– Hobbes
yesterday




$begingroup$
When the close votes are "this question belongs on another site", the 5th close vote will alert a moderator: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/85017/…
$endgroup$
– Hobbes
yesterday










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















4












$begingroup$


What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?... Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?




Microwaves, (millimeter waves actually), and the hairy edge of far-infrared



at a nominal frequency of 230 GHz or 1.30 mm wavelength, the bandwidth is roughly 2 to 6 GHz wide depending on how many channels of data were used to produce the published image.




From First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole the first of four articles published together:




4. Observations, Correlation, and Calibration



We observed M87* on 2017 April 5, 6, 10, and 11 with the EHT. Weather was uniformly good to excellent with nightly median zenith atmospheric opacities at 230 GHz ranging from 0.03 to 0.28 over the different locations. The observations were scheduled as a series of scans of three to seven minutes in duration, with M87* scans interleaved with those on the quasar 3C 279. The number of scans obtained on M87* per night ranged from 7 (April 10) to 25 (April 6) as a result of different observing schedules. A description of the M87* observations, their correlation, calibration, and validated final data products is presented in Paper III and briefly summarized here.



At each station, the astronomical signal in both polarizations and two adjacent 2 GHz wide frequency bands centered at 227.1 and 229.1 GHz were converted to baseband using standard heterodyne techniques, then digitized and recorded at a total rate of 32 Gbps.[...]




So if we use 230 GHz, the wavelength is given by $c/f$ or 1.30 millimeters. It's hard for me to say right now if the image comes from only one 2GHz wide channel, or all three, which means that the bandwidth is either about 0.9% or 2.1%, but that's still pretty narrow compared to images taken at optical frequencies. That's (ultimately) because interferometry is done digitally these days and the computational size and time scales fairly fast with the size of the baseband.



I should note that these days it's more and more common for astronomers to refer to all kinds of different wavelengths as "light" in a loose way. Circa 1.3 millimeter wavelength certainly could be thought of as far-infrared, though Wikipedia puts the cutoff at 1 mmm (300 GHz).






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
    $endgroup$
    – user71659
    7 hours ago











  • $begingroup$
    @user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    4 hours ago



















4












$begingroup$

According to the EHT website The observations were done using radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Visible light or infrared from the accretion disk would be nearly impossible to detect at such large distances. The radio measurements from all the synchronized telescopes were then combined and converted into an image.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
    $endgroup$
    – JCRM
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
    $endgroup$
    – Uwe
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
    $endgroup$
    – Alexander Vandenberghe
    yesterday











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2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes








2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









4












$begingroup$


What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?... Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?




Microwaves, (millimeter waves actually), and the hairy edge of far-infrared



at a nominal frequency of 230 GHz or 1.30 mm wavelength, the bandwidth is roughly 2 to 6 GHz wide depending on how many channels of data were used to produce the published image.




From First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole the first of four articles published together:




4. Observations, Correlation, and Calibration



We observed M87* on 2017 April 5, 6, 10, and 11 with the EHT. Weather was uniformly good to excellent with nightly median zenith atmospheric opacities at 230 GHz ranging from 0.03 to 0.28 over the different locations. The observations were scheduled as a series of scans of three to seven minutes in duration, with M87* scans interleaved with those on the quasar 3C 279. The number of scans obtained on M87* per night ranged from 7 (April 10) to 25 (April 6) as a result of different observing schedules. A description of the M87* observations, their correlation, calibration, and validated final data products is presented in Paper III and briefly summarized here.



At each station, the astronomical signal in both polarizations and two adjacent 2 GHz wide frequency bands centered at 227.1 and 229.1 GHz were converted to baseband using standard heterodyne techniques, then digitized and recorded at a total rate of 32 Gbps.[...]




So if we use 230 GHz, the wavelength is given by $c/f$ or 1.30 millimeters. It's hard for me to say right now if the image comes from only one 2GHz wide channel, or all three, which means that the bandwidth is either about 0.9% or 2.1%, but that's still pretty narrow compared to images taken at optical frequencies. That's (ultimately) because interferometry is done digitally these days and the computational size and time scales fairly fast with the size of the baseband.



I should note that these days it's more and more common for astronomers to refer to all kinds of different wavelengths as "light" in a loose way. Circa 1.3 millimeter wavelength certainly could be thought of as far-infrared, though Wikipedia puts the cutoff at 1 mmm (300 GHz).






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
    $endgroup$
    – user71659
    7 hours ago











  • $begingroup$
    @user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    4 hours ago
















4












$begingroup$


What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?... Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?




Microwaves, (millimeter waves actually), and the hairy edge of far-infrared



at a nominal frequency of 230 GHz or 1.30 mm wavelength, the bandwidth is roughly 2 to 6 GHz wide depending on how many channels of data were used to produce the published image.




From First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole the first of four articles published together:




4. Observations, Correlation, and Calibration



We observed M87* on 2017 April 5, 6, 10, and 11 with the EHT. Weather was uniformly good to excellent with nightly median zenith atmospheric opacities at 230 GHz ranging from 0.03 to 0.28 over the different locations. The observations were scheduled as a series of scans of three to seven minutes in duration, with M87* scans interleaved with those on the quasar 3C 279. The number of scans obtained on M87* per night ranged from 7 (April 10) to 25 (April 6) as a result of different observing schedules. A description of the M87* observations, their correlation, calibration, and validated final data products is presented in Paper III and briefly summarized here.



At each station, the astronomical signal in both polarizations and two adjacent 2 GHz wide frequency bands centered at 227.1 and 229.1 GHz were converted to baseband using standard heterodyne techniques, then digitized and recorded at a total rate of 32 Gbps.[...]




So if we use 230 GHz, the wavelength is given by $c/f$ or 1.30 millimeters. It's hard for me to say right now if the image comes from only one 2GHz wide channel, or all three, which means that the bandwidth is either about 0.9% or 2.1%, but that's still pretty narrow compared to images taken at optical frequencies. That's (ultimately) because interferometry is done digitally these days and the computational size and time scales fairly fast with the size of the baseband.



I should note that these days it's more and more common for astronomers to refer to all kinds of different wavelengths as "light" in a loose way. Circa 1.3 millimeter wavelength certainly could be thought of as far-infrared, though Wikipedia puts the cutoff at 1 mmm (300 GHz).






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
    $endgroup$
    – user71659
    7 hours ago











  • $begingroup$
    @user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    4 hours ago














4












4








4





$begingroup$


What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?... Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?




Microwaves, (millimeter waves actually), and the hairy edge of far-infrared



at a nominal frequency of 230 GHz or 1.30 mm wavelength, the bandwidth is roughly 2 to 6 GHz wide depending on how many channels of data were used to produce the published image.




From First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole the first of four articles published together:




4. Observations, Correlation, and Calibration



We observed M87* on 2017 April 5, 6, 10, and 11 with the EHT. Weather was uniformly good to excellent with nightly median zenith atmospheric opacities at 230 GHz ranging from 0.03 to 0.28 over the different locations. The observations were scheduled as a series of scans of three to seven minutes in duration, with M87* scans interleaved with those on the quasar 3C 279. The number of scans obtained on M87* per night ranged from 7 (April 10) to 25 (April 6) as a result of different observing schedules. A description of the M87* observations, their correlation, calibration, and validated final data products is presented in Paper III and briefly summarized here.



At each station, the astronomical signal in both polarizations and two adjacent 2 GHz wide frequency bands centered at 227.1 and 229.1 GHz were converted to baseband using standard heterodyne techniques, then digitized and recorded at a total rate of 32 Gbps.[...]




So if we use 230 GHz, the wavelength is given by $c/f$ or 1.30 millimeters. It's hard for me to say right now if the image comes from only one 2GHz wide channel, or all three, which means that the bandwidth is either about 0.9% or 2.1%, but that's still pretty narrow compared to images taken at optical frequencies. That's (ultimately) because interferometry is done digitally these days and the computational size and time scales fairly fast with the size of the baseband.



I should note that these days it's more and more common for astronomers to refer to all kinds of different wavelengths as "light" in a loose way. Circa 1.3 millimeter wavelength certainly could be thought of as far-infrared, though Wikipedia puts the cutoff at 1 mmm (300 GHz).






share|improve this answer











$endgroup$




What part of the EM spectrum was used in the black hole image?... Is it an image in visible light, infra-red or longer?




Microwaves, (millimeter waves actually), and the hairy edge of far-infrared



at a nominal frequency of 230 GHz or 1.30 mm wavelength, the bandwidth is roughly 2 to 6 GHz wide depending on how many channels of data were used to produce the published image.




From First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole the first of four articles published together:




4. Observations, Correlation, and Calibration



We observed M87* on 2017 April 5, 6, 10, and 11 with the EHT. Weather was uniformly good to excellent with nightly median zenith atmospheric opacities at 230 GHz ranging from 0.03 to 0.28 over the different locations. The observations were scheduled as a series of scans of three to seven minutes in duration, with M87* scans interleaved with those on the quasar 3C 279. The number of scans obtained on M87* per night ranged from 7 (April 10) to 25 (April 6) as a result of different observing schedules. A description of the M87* observations, their correlation, calibration, and validated final data products is presented in Paper III and briefly summarized here.



At each station, the astronomical signal in both polarizations and two adjacent 2 GHz wide frequency bands centered at 227.1 and 229.1 GHz were converted to baseband using standard heterodyne techniques, then digitized and recorded at a total rate of 32 Gbps.[...]




So if we use 230 GHz, the wavelength is given by $c/f$ or 1.30 millimeters. It's hard for me to say right now if the image comes from only one 2GHz wide channel, or all three, which means that the bandwidth is either about 0.9% or 2.1%, but that's still pretty narrow compared to images taken at optical frequencies. That's (ultimately) because interferometry is done digitally these days and the computational size and time scales fairly fast with the size of the baseband.



I should note that these days it's more and more common for astronomers to refer to all kinds of different wavelengths as "light" in a loose way. Circa 1.3 millimeter wavelength certainly could be thought of as far-infrared, though Wikipedia puts the cutoff at 1 mmm (300 GHz).







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 4 hours ago

























answered yesterday









uhohuhoh

7,38922175




7,38922175







  • 1




    $begingroup$
    We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
    $endgroup$
    – user71659
    7 hours ago











  • $begingroup$
    @user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    4 hours ago













  • 1




    $begingroup$
    We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
    $endgroup$
    – user71659
    7 hours ago











  • $begingroup$
    @user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
    $endgroup$
    – uhoh
    4 hours ago








1




1




$begingroup$
We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
$endgroup$
– user71659
7 hours ago





$begingroup$
We would call these "millimeter waves", not microwaves. Most of the telescopes in the EHT use millimeter or submillimeter (300 GHz+) in their names.
$endgroup$
– user71659
7 hours ago













$begingroup$
@user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
4 hours ago





$begingroup$
@user71659 you are right, I've made and edit. with your link thanks! While we don't call CMB the "Cosmic Millimeter wave Background", we do call ALMA the "Atacama Large Millimeterr/submillimeter Array". I don't know what "Large Millimeters" are (humor!!) but I do at least know that there are no large hadrons!!
$endgroup$
– uhoh
4 hours ago












4












$begingroup$

According to the EHT website The observations were done using radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Visible light or infrared from the accretion disk would be nearly impossible to detect at such large distances. The radio measurements from all the synchronized telescopes were then combined and converted into an image.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
    $endgroup$
    – JCRM
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
    $endgroup$
    – Uwe
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
    $endgroup$
    – Alexander Vandenberghe
    yesterday















4












$begingroup$

According to the EHT website The observations were done using radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Visible light or infrared from the accretion disk would be nearly impossible to detect at such large distances. The radio measurements from all the synchronized telescopes were then combined and converted into an image.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
    $endgroup$
    – JCRM
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
    $endgroup$
    – Uwe
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
    $endgroup$
    – Alexander Vandenberghe
    yesterday













4












4








4





$begingroup$

According to the EHT website The observations were done using radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Visible light or infrared from the accretion disk would be nearly impossible to detect at such large distances. The radio measurements from all the synchronized telescopes were then combined and converted into an image.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$



According to the EHT website The observations were done using radio telescopes observing at a wavelength of 1.3mm. Visible light or infrared from the accretion disk would be nearly impossible to detect at such large distances. The radio measurements from all the synchronized telescopes were then combined and converted into an image.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered yesterday







Alexander Vandenberghe














  • 1




    $begingroup$
    and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
    $endgroup$
    – JCRM
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
    $endgroup$
    – Uwe
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
    $endgroup$
    – Alexander Vandenberghe
    yesterday












  • 1




    $begingroup$
    and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
    $endgroup$
    – JCRM
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
    $endgroup$
    – Uwe
    yesterday










  • $begingroup$
    @Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
    $endgroup$
    – Alexander Vandenberghe
    yesterday







1




1




$begingroup$
and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
$endgroup$
– JCRM
yesterday




$begingroup$
and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope
$endgroup$
– JCRM
yesterday












$begingroup$
The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
$endgroup$
– Uwe
yesterday




$begingroup$
The Messier 87 galaxy was discovered by the French astronomer Charles Messier in 1781. Of course Messier did discover the galaxy using a telescope and his eyes. There was no radio astronomy at all at this time. Visible light is detectable over a distance of 53 million light-years from Earth from a super giant galaxy.
$endgroup$
– Uwe
yesterday












$begingroup$
@Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
$endgroup$
– Alexander Vandenberghe
yesterday




$begingroup$
@Uwe I meant visible light from the accretion disk. I'll edit my answer
$endgroup$
– Alexander Vandenberghe
yesterday

















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