First pictures of a Black Hole?

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I see the photo of the black hole had come in for some derision on social media. Personally, considering the technical challenges and the distances involved, I think it is an incredible achievement and maybe in line for a Nobel prize.
 
My initial reaction was underwhelmed. It looks like a black Saturn with glowing rings.

Then I learned we weren't really seeing the full accretion disk, rather that extreme gravity was bending light from the far side of the black hole so that it flowed over the top. I should have realized that sooner but it made all the difference in my appreciation of the forces at work here.
 
Guy on NBC said anything going into a black hole is compressed (or squeezed or something) into "nothing." How can that be? I thought matter couldn't be created or destroyed.
 
Ursa major said:
In the case of a black hole, there is a lot of light inside it; the light just can't get out.
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But light cannot be held or stored? Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum between infra red and ultra violet? When the wave stops moving forward, the photon ceases to exist?

Note the question mark ...

dask said:
Guy on NBC said anything going into a black hole is compressed (or squeezed or something) into "nothing." How can that be? I thought matter couldn't be created or destroyed.
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I think energy cannot be created or destroyed? E=MC2

It seems at a singularity gravity becomes infinite, timespace ceases to exist and all the laws and forces become meaningless. No-one knows what happens?
 
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RJM Corbet said:
I think energy cannot be created or destroyed? E=MC2

It seems at a singularity gravity becomes infinite, timespace ceases to exist and all the laws and forces become meaningless. No-one knows what happens?
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Okay, but aren't energy and matter (or is it mass) different forms of each other? If energy is converted into matter/mass is that conversion an act of creation?
 
dask said:
If energy is converted into matter/mass is that conversion an act of creation?
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No, don't think so. It' a transformation from one state to another?

What is energy?

One of the debates about what happens in a black hole, seems to be whether information is lost. 'Information' seems to be defined as whatever is limited by the speed-of-light?

In normal space, virtual particles pop into existence continually as matter/antimatter pairs. They immediately cancel each other out. But on the rim of a black hole, one 'partner' of the matter/antimatter pair is captured by the black hole. So the uncaptured half of the pair changes from a virtual particle into an actual particle. It is the formation of these actual particles that becomes the Hawking Radiation that eventually causes the black hole to evaporate away?

Boggles, lol ...
 
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Thank you. Stuff I didn't know. Virtual particles? Is there on the market right now a book about the latest theories and ideas worth exploring regarding the creation of the universe?
 
BBC 4 explained how difficult it was to get the picture.

Eight radio telescopes had to work in unison and be constantly synchronised in relation to their exact locations on earth with extreme accuracy. This involved taking into account:

1) Continental drift
2) Movement of the Antarctic ice pack
3) Lifting / dropping of the earth’s crust due to varying gravitational effects of the moon.
 
dask said:
Thank you. Stuff I didn't know. Virtual particles? Is there on the market right now a book about the latest theories and ideas worth exploring regarding the creation of the universe?
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Well, I don't know. Perhaps start by searching SLAC Linear Accelerator (Stanford University) public talks on You Tube? So many other sources. Enjoy your journey, lol ...

EDIT: Here's one I gained a lot from:
 
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