A black hole is photographed — and Einstein passes again
The first image of a black hole matched general relativity precisely, a century after Einstein’s theory implied such objects could exist.
On 10 April 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope released the first direct image of a black hole — the giant at the centre of galaxy M87, 55 million light-years away. The glowing ring around a dark shadow looked just as general relativity predicted.
Einstein never used the words “black hole” and was uneasy about the idea, but it follows from the field equations he published in 1915. The picture was one more dramatic confirmation that his geometric theory of gravity holds even in the most extreme conditions in the universe.