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May 12 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Happy Black Hole day everyone! The @ehtelescope team are announcing new results at noon today. You might remember the image released in 2019, showing the centre of the galaxy M87. (1/n)
That image, made with data from radio telescopes around the world, shows the silhouette of the massive black hole at the heart of M87. We’re not ‘seeing’ the black hole itself, just its effect on light, but it’s still an amazing image. (2/n)
The image is actually a reconstruction; it takes many months for the data from the different telescopes to be combined, and it’s not as if they spit out an image. Instead, what we see is a model that’s consistent with the data. (Producing this is a wonderful piece of work) (3/n)
There’s a great slightly technical discussion of all this from @breadshifted on @astrobites astrobites.org/2019/04/11/the… (4/n)
Anyway! That was then! The EHT team also had data for Sag A*, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, but we’ve never seen an image. Though our BH is closer, it’s less massive. More data was needed to produce a reliable image (5/n)
I am assuming that’s what we’ll get today - the first reconstructed image showing the shadow of the Milky Way’s black hole. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve got - both at the press conference and technical papers which are out today (6/n)
The last release generated a lot of interest! If you have black hole questions today, tweet me with #askanastronomer and I’ll try and answer (& I’m sure others will join in) (7/7)
PS It was on my trip to film at the last EHT press event I had the single worst restaurant dish of my life - clam pizza. Don’t put clams on pizza, people. (8/7)
Forgot the link! I’m going to watch the @ESO feed, but take your pick eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/event-hor…
Damn it. 2pm BST, not noon. Sorry everyone.

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More from @chrislintott

chrislintott Profile picture
Sep 9, 2021
Interesting experiment in #citizenscience ethics this morning! Along with millions of others, I’ve been logging health with @timspector’s @join_zoe app since the start of the pandemic. They’ve produced accurate data on symptoms and case rates throughout 1/n.
My reward as a participant has been access to that data, which has been interesting and useful. Now the app wants permission to ask me questions associated with other diseases and conditions, investigating their link to nutrition. 2/n
But it also wants permission to use the data collected for commercial purposes (@join_zoe is a personalised nutrition effort). I found myself declining - I wouldn’t mind being asked to give specific permission for specific use of specific data, but not a blanket ‘yes’. 3/n
Read 5 tweets
chrislintott Profile picture
Jan 15, 2021
At the #AAS237 conference yesterday I went to a panel discussion on the effect of large constellations of satellites on astronomy from the ground. The thousands of satellites @spacex and others want to launch are a serious problem. 1/n
@SpaceX The launch of so many satellites might change the appearance of the night sky for ever and the trails they leave in astronomers' cameras and the potential for interference with radio telescopes are serious problems 2/n
@SpaceX Those problems are particularly acute for those searching for near-Earth or threatening asteroids, for example, though any large survey of the sky is affected. 3/n
Read 15 tweets
chrislintott Profile picture
Sep 14, 2020
A team led by @jgreaves6 have found what might be signs of life high in Venus' atmosphere. They have detected phospine, a gas which on Earth is produced only by life, in quantities they say are too large to be produced any other way. (1/17)
The discovery was made by using sub-mm (microwave) telescopes @eao_jcmt and @almaobs; phosphine is detected roughly 50km above the surface; parts of the atmosphere have temperature and pressure similar to sea level on Earth (2/17)
The phosphine exists at about 20 parts per billion, which doesn't sound much but which the team's modelling says is ten thousand times more than can be produced by volcanic activity or atmospheric chemistry. Their conclusion - this could be life. (3/17)
Read 20 tweets
chrislintott Profile picture
Apr 12, 2020
I normally ignore conspiracy nonsense, but the world is weird and people are scared so: There is no asteroid or comet on a collision course with Earth right now. (1/7)
I know this because anyone finding anything remotely interesting shouts about it in order to get others in different parts of the world to look. The sky is there for all of us - there are no secrets in space. (2/n)
The specific nonsense going around now seems to suggest that Comet ATLAS - which might have been bright but seems to have disintegrated over the last few days - might hit. It won't. It's closest approach is 72 million miles! (3/n)
Read 4 tweets
chrislintott Profile picture
Jan 31, 2020
Good news - the UK and @RoyalAstroSoc are going to celebrate National Astronomy Week in November: astronomyweek.org.uk cc @natastroweek.

For a grumpy astronomer take, read on (1/n)
@RoyalAstroSoc @NatAstroWeek The reason for choosing November is that it's a great time to see a nice, bright, close apparition of Mars in the evening sky. This is great - seeing Mars through a telescope is cool, and it really makes a difference when Mars is close. (2/n)
@RoyalAstroSoc @NatAstroWeek Mars during the week is about 80 million miles away - it's a few weeks after closest approach. (At closest approach, Mars will look better but it's lower earlier in the evening, which is prime time for family and public events) (3/n)
Read 7 tweets
chrislintott Profile picture
Sep 11, 2019
Sometimes, astronomers can't help themselves. A @umontreal_news press release says 'water detected on an exoplanet in the habitable zone...a a major discovery in the search of alien life'. Except it isn't. It really isn't.
@uMontreal_news If you read the paper (arxiv.org/abs/1909.04642) you find a fascinating description of a planet unlike any in our Solar System. It's more like a mini-Neptune than anything Earth like - though warm. Sort of like a cross between Venus and Neptune.
What's frustrating is that this is a fascinating, interesting result. Imagine what such a world would be like! And now it's going to leak slowly into the public as something to do with 'aliens' and 'life'. #itsneveraliens
Read 5 tweets

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