Black Holes: The heart of darkness

Available for over a year

The first EVER picture of a Black Hole has been captured by a network of telescopes, known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The picture shows a bright ring of fire surrounding a circular dark hole. The Black Hole has been described as a “monster” and is located in the M87 galaxy, 500 million trillion miles from Earth. As remarkable and spectacular as the picture is, it also provides scientists and researchers valuable scientific information about these behemoths of the universe. A team from the National Natural History Museum in Paris and the University of the Philippines have discovered bone fragments which are thought to belong to a new species of hominid, which they have called the Homo Luzonensis. These fossils provide sufficient evidence of a new species of hominin, who lived on the island of Luzon in the Philippines prior to 50,000 years ago. Wandering interstellar worlds like Oumuamua may help form planets. Some of these huge objects, which can be as large as skyscrapers and even cities, drift through every cubic parsec of space between the stars. Once these emerging systems become part of new stellar systems, interstellar objects could accelerate the growth of new planets. Picture: First ever image of a black hole. Courtesy of the Event Horizon Telescope. Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Jack Meegan-Vickers