AMHERST.
♪ AMY: HERE IT IS.
THE CELEBRATED IMAGE OF THE BLACK HOLE, CAPTURED IN BEAUTIFUL GLOBAL SYNCHRYNICITY IN APRIL 2017.
IT IS WITH DELIBERATE SELF RESTRAINT THAT THIS STORY IS OMITTING THE BELOVED LINE FROM "STAR WARS," BUT WHAT YOU SEE HERE REALLY IS FROM A GALAXY THAT IS 55 MILLION LIGHT YEARS
FROM EARTH.
DIR. LONSDALE: IT WAS A VERY INTENSE EXPERIENCE ON ALL FRONTS.
AMY: DR. COLIN LONSDALE IS A RADIO ASTRONOMER.
HE HAS WORKED AT M.I.T.’S HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY IN MASSACHUSETTS FOR 33 YEARS.
DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THE ACCENT -- THIS GROUND-BREAKING SCIENTIST HAS CALLED NEW HAMPSHIRE HOME SINCE 1986.
LONSDALE WAS RAISED IN ENGLAND, STUDIED IN SCOTLAND, BEFORE COMING TO PENN STATE IN THE 1980’S FOR GREATER OPPORTUNITIES IN HIS FIELD.
DIR. LONSDALE: ASTRONOMY IN GENERAL I WAS FASCINATED BY AT A VERY EARLY AGE.
I WAS READING MY FIRST ASTRONOMY BOOKS AT THE AGE OF FIVE AND GOT MY FIRST TELESCOPE AT THE AGE OF SIX OR SEVEN.
AMY: WE WILL GET TO HOW THEY DID IT IN A MOMENT.
THIS IMAGE DELIGHTED SCIENTISTS BY LOOKING EXACTLY HOW THEY IMAGINED IT WOULD, AND, NO, SAYS LONSDALE, THIS ISN’T FUZZY.
IT IS ACTUALLY THE SHARPEST IMAGE CREATED BY HUMAN KIND EVER , AND IT WAS KEPT A SECRET FOR MONTHS.
DIR. LONSDALE: IT IS JUST A REFLECTION OF HOW ONE DOES GOOD SCIENCE.
AMY: HOW LONG DID YOU ALL HAVE TO KEEP QUIET HERE?
MONTHS?
DIR. LONSDALE: A FEW MONTHS.
AMY: DID YOU TELL YOUR WIFE?
DIR. LONSDALE: I DECLINE TO ANSWER.
[LAUGHTER] AMY: THE IMAGE WAS CAPTURED BY AN EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE, WHICH IS NOT A TELESCOPE AT ALL.
IT IS ACTUALLY A COMPILATION OF DATA COLLECTED AT EIGHT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS BY RADIO DISHES SITTING ON TOP OF MOUNTAINS IN HAWAII, SPAIN, CHILE, AND THE ANTARCTIC ICE
SHEET.
THE CATCH?
ASIDE FROM ALL THE EQUIPMENT NEEDING TO WORK, THE WEATHER AT ALL OF THE LOCATIONS HAS TO BE PERFECT AT THE EXACT SAME SECOND IN TIM MIKE: SO EACH STATION HAS
ACTUALLY FOUR OF THESE RECORDERS.
EACH ONE OF THESE RECORDERS IS DOING 16 GIGA BITS PER SECOND.
YOU CAN SEE WE ARE RUNNING A CORRELATION RIGHT NOW.
AMY: RADIO ASTRONOMY IS QUITE THE PIVOT FOR MIKE TITUS.
HE WAS A MUSIC MAJOR IN COLLEGE.
BUT IN THE LAB HE’S A BIT LIKE A CONDUCTOR, BECAUSE THE HAYSTACK OBSERVATORY, LOCATED JUST OVER THE BORDER IN WESTFORD , MASSACHUSETTS, IS THE HUB OF THE INTERNATIONAL EFFORT TO
IMAGE M87, OR THE BLACK HOLE.
MIKE: HERE’S THE SOUTH POLE DISCS THAT TOOK EIGHT MONTHS TO GET HERE.
AMY: THE CAMERA ARRAY ON TOP OF CHILE IS CALLED ALMA.
MIKE: THIS IS THE ROCK STAR.
THIS WAS ONLY RECENTLY BUILT, AND THIS IS REALLY THE SITE THAT MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE.
IT IS 66 DISHES ALL FORMED INTO ONE DISH, SO IT’S A VERY, VERY SENSITIVE INTRUMENT.
AMY: EVERY DISC IS PHYSICALLY SHIPPED BACK HERE TO BE SIFTED BY THIS MASSIVE AND LOUD CORRELATOR.
MIKE: THE 2017 DATA WAS 3.6 PETABYTES OF DATA.
IT WOULD TAKE YOU DECADES TO TRANSFER THAT.
MGR. SOOHOO: YEAH, IT IS LIKE, "WHAT DO YOU DO?" I FIX COMPUTERS, AND I HELP FIND BLACK HOLES.
AND MARS PROJECT.
LITTLE THINGS, YOU KNOW.
[LAUGHTER] AMY: JASON SOOHOO IS GUY THEY CALL WHEN THE PRINTER IS DOWN AT THE OBSERVATORY, BUT HE’S ALSO THE GUY THEY SENT TO THE SOUTH POLE TWICE TO BUILD THE
TELESCOPE.
MGR. SOOHOO: YOU DON’T HAVE A HOME DEPOT OR A RADIO SHACK DOWN THE ROAD.
YOU HAVE TO BRING AND BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING.
THE TELESCOPE IS ABOVE AND IF WE HAD TO WORK ON THE FRONT END WITH THE RECEIVER AND INSTALL THE MIRRORS AND STUFF YOU’D HAD TO BUNDLE UP CLIMB UP THERE AND PUT IT IN POSITION AND STUFF.
VINCENT: YOU BEGAN TO WONDER, WILL WE EVER SEE THIS? VINCENT
AMY: VINCENT FISH IS A RESEARCH SCIENTIST WHOSE ENTIRE CAREER HAS BEEN DRIVING TOWARD THIS DISCOVERY.
WE ASKED HIM TO EXPLAIN VERY LONG BASELINE INTERFEROMETRY IN LAYMEN’S TERMS.
DR. FISH: YOU PUT A TELESCOPE HERE ON MONTE CAYA AND YOU PUT A TELESCOPE HERE IN CHILE AND AS LONG AS YOU CAN COMBINE THE SIGNAL AFTER THE FACT, WHICH WE CAN DO, BECAUSE WE’RE OBSERVING
NOT AT OPTICAL WAVELENGTH WHICH ARE REALLY TINY, BUT AT THREE MILLIMETERS WHICH IS STILL TINY , BUT IS FEASIBLE.
TRACY: DI-- AMY: DID YOU GET ALL THAT?
KAZUNORI AKIYAMA HAS THE DISTINCTION OF BEING THE FIRST SCIENTIST IN THE WORLD TO CREATE THE IMAGE OF THE BLACK HOLE.
JUNE 20, 2018 IS A DATE HE’LL NEVER FORGET DATA TAKEN FROM THE EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPES IN APRIL 2017 WAS FINALLY RELEASED TO THE IMAGING TEAMS.
THEY SPENT NEARLY 8 YEARS JUST DEVELOPING IMAGING TECHNIQUES.
DR. AKIYAMA: WE SPENT A LOT OF TIME SO WE CAN JUST PUSH A BUTTON JUST TO START IMAGING.
AMY: KAZUNORI REMEMBERS IT WAS FIVE HORSE -- 5:00 OR 6:00 IN THE EVENING, EVERYONE WAS GONE FOR THE DAY BUT KAZU COULDN’T WAIT ONE MORE MINUTE.
DR. AKIYAMA: IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DATA ARE RELEASED TO US, I JUST PUSHED THE BUTTON TO GET IMAGES FROM DATA.
AMY: WITHIN A COUPLE OF MINUTES, THE IMAGE EMERGED, HE WAS THRILLED.
THEN A WHOLE DIFFERENT WAVE OF EMOTION TOOK OVER.
DR. AKIYAMA: AFTER THAT, I ACTUALLY STARTED TO FEEL ANXIETY THAT MAYBE I’M THE ONLY PERSON TO SEE THE RING AND MAYBE OTHER PEOPLE CONSTRUCTED DIFFERENT IMAGES
AMY: KAZUNORI’S FEARS WERE ALLAYED THREE DAYS LATER, WHEN THE THREE OTHER INDEPENDENT IMAGING TEAMS AROUND THE GLOBE GENERATED THE SAME IMAGE.
BUT STILL, THEY HAD TO KEEP MUM, . THEY MET IN SECRECY AT HARVARD TO COMPARE THE RESULTS.
DR. AKIYAMA: ACTUALLY WE WENT TO A BEER PLACE TO CELEBRATE OUR RESULTS.
IT WAS QUITE AN EXCITING MOMENT.
AMY: THE REST OF THE WORLD WOULD HAVE TO WAIT 10 MONTHS.
UNVEILED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON APRIL 10, 2019 IN WASHINGTON, D.C., WHERE THE TEAM WENT FROM OBSCURITY TO ROCK STARS.
THEIR SUCCESS FURTHER CELEBRATED AND EXPLAINED WHEN THE TEAM TESTIFIED BEFORE CONGRESS AT THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY.
DR. DOELEMAN: WE AIM TO MOVE BEYOND STILL IMAGES TO MAKING REAL TIME MOVIES OF BLACK HOLES.
CREATING ENTIRELY NEW TESTS OF GRAVITY AND EXTREME ASTRO PHYSICS.
AMY: THE TEAM NOW HAS THEIR SIGHTS ON A BLACK HOLE MUCH CLOSER TO US, IN OUR OWN GALAXY , IN FACT, CALLED THE SAGITTARIUS A STAR.
STAY TUNED.
DIR. LONSDALE: WELL, IT IS SUCH A TEAM EFFORT.
THIS IS SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED BY PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE WORLD.