In April 2023, Lu Rushen introduced the first black hole observation results "seen" by humans. Photographed by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Jiansong
At the foot of the beautiful Tianma Mountain in Shanghai, next to the tall and majestic 65-meter Tianma Telescope, a new 5-meter millimeter-diameter millimeter wave telescope was recently added.
"The mission of this telescope is to conduct corresponding tests based on the Tianma Telescope Platform to build my country's own submillimeter wave telescope, join the 'Event Horizon Telescope' (eht) international observation network, and take 'movies' of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way." Shen Zhiqiang, director of the Shanghai Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, "EHT telescopes are required to work normally at submillimeter waves. Currently, there is no telescope in my country that meets the observation frequency band requirements of EHT."
As an astronomer who studies black holes, in 1997, Shen Zhiqiang He has led an international team to conduct more than 20 very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technical observations of Sagittarius a* in the center of the Milky Way. In 2005, he discovered new evidence that Sagittarius a* is a supermassive black hole, which attracted widespread attention and was named one of the top ten basic research news stories in China in 2005.
But Shen Zhiqiang always has a regret in his heart: back then, he could only apply for the foreign VLBI network to conduct black hole observation and research. With the enhancement of comprehensive national strength, our country has built its own vlbi network. In 2012, Shen Zhiqiang presided over the construction of the Shanghai Tianma Telescope and soon became an important member of the international VLBI observation network. Over the years, "Tianma" has continued to provide high-quality observation data to astronomers around the world.
In order to capture the "true appearance" of black holes, in 2017, the "Event Horizon Telescope" (eht) cooperation organization composed of more than 300 scientists from around the world combined 8 submillimeter wave telescopes distributed around the world to form a telescope equivalent to the diameter of the Earth. A "virtual telescope" the size of which made the first imaging observations of two supermassive black holes located at the center of the M87 galaxy in the constellation Virgo and the center of the Milky Way.
During the eht global joint imaging observation period, the Shanghai 65-meter Tianma Telescope and the Xinjiang Nanshan 25-meter Radio Telescope jointly participated in intensive black hole imaging collaborative observations.
Since the launch of the eht project, Lu Rushen, who is deeply involved in vlbi imaging research, has been involved in it. In 2018, after studying and working abroad for more than 10 years, he decided to return to China with his family and join the black hole research team of the Shanghai Observatory. "Black hole imaging research is the key development direction of Shanghai Observatory. When I return to China, I want to advance China's black hole imaging research to the internationally advanced level and make leading results in this field." Lu Rushen said.
With his drive and enterprising spirit, Lu Rushen not only established a joint scientific research team for black hole astrophysics observation and theoretical research, but also led dozens of international colleagues to cooperate, targeting the forefront of world black hole research. With the concerted efforts of Jiang Wu, Zhao Shanshan and other team members, the Shanghai Observatory’s black hole imaging research has yielded fruitful results in recent years.
In 2019, Shanghai Observatory participated in eht's global simultaneous release of the first black hole photo - the M87 black hole photo; in 2021, it participated in the release of polarization photos and multi-band observation results of the M87 black hole; in 2022, it participated in eht's global simultaneous release of photos of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way; In 2023, the Shanghai Observatory took the lead in releasing a "panoramic photo" of the M87 black hole, which simultaneously displayed the black hole's shadow, accretion disk and jets in one photo.
"Static photos of black holes are not enough. We must also take dynamic 'movies' of black holes to obtain black hole information at every moment and observe and understand black holes in an all-round way. Black holes provide us with a very good way to test the general theory of relativity." Laboratory, understanding space and time under the strong gravitational field around the black hole is of great significance to the entire human race." Lu Rushen said, "As soon as possible, my country's submillimeter wave telescope will be built to join the global 24-hour uninterrupted study of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. During the relay observation, this is my dream."
In order to build my country's submillimeter wave telescope as soon as possible, Jiang Wu, a "technical expert" in the black hole team of the Shanghai Observatory, is cooperating with international colleagues and is actively carrying out advanced multi-frequency simultaneous reception technology observations experiment. Zhao Shanshan, a member of the
team, also turned himself into a "polygon warrior". “I always thought that doing scientific research meant sitting in front of a computer, formulating formulas, and writing codes. I never thought that I could participate in building telescopes."The post-90s girl said cheerfully, "No matter how busy or tired I am, whenever I think about the possibility of making a movie about black holes in the future, I feel as if I represent the curiosity, pursuit, and exploration of all mankind. "
(according to Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhang Jiansong and Ding Ting)
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