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Madison Metropolitan School District

Supermassive Black Hole in M87

Supermassive Black Hole in M87
Supermassive Black Hole

Supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy M87.

Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

In the April 2019 public planetarium shows, we featured the fulldome film From Earth to the Universe. We also talked about the exciting announcement from the previous week — the first image of a black hole. Black holes are hard to wrap your brain around. Below you will find links to help you understand what you are seeing in the image.

  • Article on the Event Horizon Telescope website explaining the image.
  • Zoom in video from viewing the entire galaxy down to the center of the galaxy where the black hole is found.
  • Excellent video from Veritasium explaining what we are seeing in the image. This is from before the announcement was made, and isn't referring directly to M87, but still very helpful. He has also produced an update video after the announcement.

Eclipse Glasses for Sale!

Image shows a Sun shape made with eclipse glasses

Be safe, order a pair for everyone in the family!

 

Be prepared to look at the October 14, 2023 and the April 8, 2024 Solar eclipses!

Did you know the sun is a great object to look at any day... sometimes its sunspots are so large that you can see them with just your eyes (protected with these amazing eclipse glasses, of course) from our spaceship Earth at more than 93,000,000 miles away.

Glasses purchased must be picked up at the planetarium by appointment or at any of our public events.   Cost is $5 per pair with all proceeds directly benefiting the planetarium.  Send an email to the planetarium to arrange for a pickup time.

Cash or check is our preferred method of payment but payment through our online store is possible, if you have to use a credit card.

Buy a pair for yourself, every family member, as a gift, or simply donate the purchase so that we can provide safe eclipse glasses to others in our community.

Additional donations welcomed!!