Team that captured first image of black hole wins 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics

An international group of astrophysicists, who captured the first image of the black hole back in April, received the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics on Thursday.

The team, called Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT), will collectively pocket USD 3 million as the prize money, which would be equally divided among the 347 scientists who together worked from 20 different countries to accomplish the groundbreaking feat.

The EHT team worked for more than a decade to capture the image by combining the power of eight different radio telescopes located around the world. Imaging algorithms were then used to fill in the gaps and piece together the photo.

Black holes are extraordinary cosmic objects with enormous masses but extremely compact sizes. The presence of these objects affects their environment in extreme ways, warping spacetime and super-heating any surrounding material so that it glows.

The supermassive black hole that the team captured exists at the center of the M87 galaxy and has a mass of more than six billion solar masses.

The Breakthrough Prize, currently in its eight-year, honours people and teams who make significant discoveries in physics, life sciences, and mathematics.