One of the most extreme and elusive consequences of Einstein's general theory of relativity is the existence of black holes.
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has recently released the first image of a black hole in the center of the M87 galaxy in the Virgo cluster. The image shows a bright ring revealing the curvature of space-time due to the extreme gravitational field around a black hole 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. The ring encloses a dark region at its center, the so-called black hole 'shadow', which is the signature of an event horizon, the defining feature of a black hole. Overall, the observed image is consistent with expectations for the shadow of a Kerr black hole as predicted by general relativity and provides the strongest evidence to date of the existence of supermassive black holes.
In the seminar, I will describe the context, the implications and the "behind the scenes" of one of the greatest discovery of the year.