PHOTOGRAPHING THE IMPOSSIBLE

This is humanity's first portrait of an invisible cosmic giant!

- HRITHIK KIRAN BAGADE

LACK holes have long captivated human imagination. These mysterious objects, predicted by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, represent a region of space where gravity is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape its grasp. For decades, they existed primarily in the realm of theory and indirect observation, glimpsed only through the effects they exerted on nearby stars and gas. We could infer their presence through X-rays emitted by matter being torn apart at their edges, or by watching stars whip around unseen centres.

But actually, seeing one - capturing an image of that dark heart in the sky - seemed an almost impossible feat. That changed on April 10, 2019, when scientists unveiled the first ever image of a black hole, a historic breakthrough that pushed the boundaries of technology, global collaboration, and human curiosity. It was a moment when theory stepped into the realm of visual proof, and the cosmos revealed one of its most hidden secrets.