24.06.2026 - Prof. Dr. Anton Zensus

Preisträger des Karl Schwarzschild-Preises 2026

Imaging Black Holes: A Radio Astronomy Success Story

The first horizon-scale images of the supermassive black holes M87* and Sagittarius A*, obtained by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, represent a landmark achievement in observational astronomy and the culmination of more than four decades of instrumental development. This talk traces the path from early radio interferometry to the global networks that made black hole imaging possible, with emphasis on the advances in angular resolution, sensitivity, and image reconstruction that were decisive. Recent observations have begun to reveal the connection between the black hole environment and the relativistic jets first glimpsed by Heber Curtis over a century ago. The talk concludes with an outlook on ongoing multi-wavelength campaigns and future instrumentation, including the prospect of extending black hole imaging well beyond the two sources currently accessible.

Local Host: Prof. Dr. Camilla Hansen