FIRST IMAGE OF BLACK HOLE

The fi rst-ever image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy Messier 87 is unveiled during a press conference held by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory on April 10.

The image， based on observations from the Event Horizon Telescope， a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes created by international collaboration of over 200 scientists for years， was released during coordinated press conferences across the globe at 9：00 p.m.， Beijing time.

The landmark result offers scientists a new way to study the most distant and volatile objects in the universe and helped confi rm Albert Einsteins theory of general relativity.