First black hole image puts Einstein's famous theory of general relativity to test

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity that puts forth the idea—gravity is the warping of space and time—has yet again proved to be accurate despite facing scrutiny from the researchers for more than 100 years. In the latest study researchers of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration have revealed that Einstein's theory stands up, even under some of the most extreme conditions in the universe. 

In a study published on Thursday in the journal Physical Review Letters researchers from the EHT collaboration examined the images of the supermassive black hole that lies at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy to test Einstein's theory yet again. The black hole, M87*, is the same black hole researchers used to create the first-ever image of a black hole by the EHT team in 2019. 

Lia Medeiros, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study and co-author on the study said this is really just the beginning and added that they have now shown that it is possible to use an image of a black hole to test the theory of gravity.

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'A black hole does not emit any light'

With the pictures acquired of M87*, which is about 6.5 billion times more massive than the sun, the research team was able to take a closer look at how the massive black hole bends spacetime. A black hole does not emit any light, however, it is surrounded by a hot disc of accreting gas around the event horizon the point of no return, claimed the researchers. The hot, bright gas gives the black hole its shadow, they added. M87* was visible against a bright orange backdrop when researchers took the first image, where they agreed with the predictions made in the theory of general relativity.

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Initially, the research team tried to disprove the theory of general relativity in the new research. The scientists kept looking for ways to show it might break down however it doesn't break down when they look at the size of the black hole shadow as it holds up. The new result shows that even under the most extreme conditions general relativity holds up right next to a black hole.

The Event Horizon Telescope is a series of telescopes across the world that have been fixated on two supermassive black holes that are M87* and Sagittarius A* the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. When images of Sgr A* will be released, it will provide researchers with yet another opportunity to put Einstein's theory to the test. 

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