The biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2019

From the first picture of a black hole to a new gene-editing tool

A black hole.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Capturing a black hole

Scientists this year unveiled the first-ever image of a black hole. One of the universe's most enigmatic phenomena, a black hole is a cosmic abyss so dense with matter that not even light can escape. The picture from Messier 87, a galaxy 55 million light-years away, shows a bright ring of particles heated to billions of degrees, circling a supermassive black hole some 25 billion miles wide. To capture the image, scientists focused eight ultrapowerful radio telescopes around the world on Messier 87 for 10 days. Researchers compared the resulting images to millions of simulations of what the black hole might look like — and found a match. "We have seen what we thought was unseeable," says project leader Shep Doeleman.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us