Astronomers studying elusive supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies are intrigued not only by the cosmic behemoths themselves but also by the colossal jets they launch into space at near-light speeds, the biggest of which are known to span millions of light-years. In particular, the physics of what creates and accelerates these jets to near-light speeds has remained murky.
A large group of astronomers led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko of the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are now confident the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-sized array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — is up to the task.
