Imaging Black Holes with the Event Horizon Telescope, by Dr Ziri Younsi

Supermassive black holes are believed to reside at the centres of galaxies, powering some of the most violent and energetic events in the known Universe. In spite of overwhelming indirect evidence of their existence, until recently black holes had evaded direct observational confirmation. In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration changed how we see black holes forever by presenting the first “image” of these mysterious monsters, showcasing M87’s black hole image. In April 2021, the EHT presented a follow-up of this study, presenting the first polarised image of M87, providing tantalising new hints as to the properties of matter, magnetic fields, and light in the vicinity of the event horizon of a black hole.

After providing an overview of black holes and their history in modern science, Dr Ziri Younsi’s talk will discuss how they captured these images of a black hole and provided the first direct evidence of their existence. He will also talk about the exciting new developments in black-hole imaging that will be taking place in the months and years ahead.

Dr Ziri Younsi is a UKRI Stephen Hawking Fellow in Astrophysics at University College London. After graduating from the University of Cambridge and subsequently from UCL, Younsi worked in the BlackHoleCam project as a Humboldt Fellow at the Goethe University of Frankfurt before returning to UCL as a Leverhulme Trust Fellow. Since 2014, he has worked within the EHT, developing and performing supercomputer simulations of black holes and horizon-scale black-hole imaging, enabling comparison with and interpretation of the EHT’s black hole images.

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