Image List

Zooming in on the supermassive black hole powering quasar 3C 279. At the heart of this quasar is a black hole that powers jets of near light-speed particles. The technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) can peer deeper and with more clarity toward the launch point of these jets by observing emission at shorter and shorter radio wavelengths. Upper left: images made at a wavelength of λ=7 mm show the core of the quasar and the emerging jet where the scale bar is 22 light-years (or 1000 μas) across. Lower left: an image made using λ=3 mm radio waves indicates a mild extension of the core region with the scale at 5 light-years (or 250 μas) across. On right: the new EHT image at 1.3 mm wavelength zooms in to reveal never-before seen substructure within the core at a scale of one light-year in length.

Animation following observations of quasar 3C 279, and its jet motions, over the course of one week from April 5, 2017 to April 11, 2017. Credits: VLBA 7mm, Boston University Blazar Group; GMVA 3mm, Marscher-Krichbaum Collaboration; EHT 1.3mm, The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration; Animation: A.E. Broderick (PI/UWaterloo) and The EHT Collaboration