Why trying to photograph a black hole was a massive gamble

The iconic first image of a black hole, released in 2019, might never have happened if not for a stroke of luck, according to one of the astronomers who helped create the image.

Speaking at New Scientist Live in London, Luciano Rezzolla at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, who is on the executive committee of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) that created the image, revealed that the researchers didn’t know if their efforts would pay off until after…