Scientists want to launch telescope to study black holes from space

Black holes are some of the most extreme yet fascinating objects in the universe. Humanity’s understanding of them is still relatively limited. That’s why an international team of scientists has proposed launching a dedicated space telescope to study them.

The project is called Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), and was initiated by the team that operates the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), the same team that captured the first detailed image of a black hole in 2019, as well as the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy in 2022.

The idea behind BHEX is to use a space-based telescope to gather more detailed information about black holes, as there is less interference from water vapor when observing from above Earth's atmosphere. The goal is to combine data from this telescope with the many ground-based telescopes already used in the EHT project. The next phase of the project is a collaboration between the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

“ This collaboration with NRAO marks a significant step forward in our quest to understand the nature of black holes ,” said Michael Johnson, BHEX principal investigator at CfA. “ By extending the EHT into space, we will be able to study dozens of black holes and see how they behave in the universe .”

The CfA team is preparing a proposal for the BHEX mission to submit to NASA next year, with the goal of launching a space telescope system into orbit in 2031. The goal of the project is to make detailed observations around the supermassive black holes that lie at the centers of most galaxies.

Although black holes themselves are invisible because they are so dense that not even light can escape, the area immediately surrounding a black hole’s event horizon can be very busy and chaotic. There is often a large amount of dust and gas swirling around the black hole, attracted and accelerated by its immense gravity. As this material rubs against each other, it becomes hot and begins to glow. For large, active black holes, this glow can even be seen and studied from Earth.

“ By combining space-based and ground-based observations, we will be able to achieve unprecedented resolution and gain new insights into fascinating cosmic phenomena like black holes .”