“Although the Universe seems to be much the same at each position in space, it is definitely changing in time”  —Stephen Hawking, Into the Universe 

Researchers at the University of Arizona have initiated an “Event Horizon,” which invites scientists from all over the world to converge in preparing for the world’s first real image of one the most “extreme environment you can find in the universe,” a black hole (yes, apparently all of the other ‘black hole’ images were fake) – by creating the world’s largest telescope.

And seeing the microscope that’s necessary to reach such a distant, dark, gravity-filled space is highly technical, the Arizonian scientists will need as much help that there is available to construct this contraption.

Dr. Shep Doeleman, a key head in the project, explained, “In essence, we are making a virtual telescope with a mirror that is as big as the Earth.” With the power of recent advances in radio technologies, a wave-free picture is able to capture the black hole’s reflection. The fact no one has ever been able to capture such a strange phenomenon as a real photograph raises much speculation, as if the photo of our galaxy’s alleged black hole appears, Einstein’s infamous theory of relativity might be proved  as true.

Years ago trying to host this project would have been totally looked over as impossible, but scientists will meet in Tucson to converge brainwaves and technologies to show the world what may or may not be a gravity-filled black hole that’s in the center of our galaxy.

(via University of Arizona News; phto via University of Oregon)