Eli5: why are images of black holes so blurry and not better quality?

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Eli5: why are images of black holes so blurry and not better quality?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

They’re technically the sharpest resolution photos ever taken

There’s a physical limit to how sharp an image can be, related to the wavelength of light you’re observing at and the size of the collection area (satellite dish, camera lens, etc). They’re observing in radio waves but the dish is effectively the size of the earth which given them a resolution better than any camera or telescope ever

It’s blurry because even though the black hole is 25 million miles across, its 157 quadrillion (million billion) miles away, so it’s unbelievably tiny even with that resolution

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