Print Email Facebook Twitter Orbital configurations of spaceborne interferometers for studying photon rings of supermassive black holes Title Orbital configurations of spaceborne interferometers for studying photon rings of supermassive black holes Author Hudson, Ben (KISPE Space Systems Ltd) Gurvits, L. (TU Delft Astrodynamics & Space Missions; Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC) Wielgus, Maciek (Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy) Paragi, Zsolt (Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC) Liu, Lei (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Zheng, Weimin (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Date 2023 Abstract Recent advances in technology coupled with the progress of observational radio astronomy methods resulted in achieving a major milestone of astrophysics - a direct image of the shadow of a supermassive black hole, taken by the Earth-based Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The EHT was able to achieve a resolution of ∼20μas, enabling it to resolve the shadows of the black holes in the centres of two celestial objects: the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87 and the Milky Way Galaxy. The EHT results mark the start of a new round of development of next generation Very Long Baseline Interferometers (VLBI) which will be able to operate at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths. The inclusion of baselines exceeding the diameter of the Earth and observation at as short a wavelength as possible is imperative for further development of high resolution astronomical observations. This can be achieved by a spaceborne VLBI system. We consider the preliminary mission design of such a system, specifically focused on the detection and analysis of photon rings, an intrinsic feature of supermassive black holes. Optimised Earth, Sun–Earth L2 and Earth–Moon L2 orbit configurations for the space interferometer system are presented, all of which provide an order of magnitude improvement in resolution compared to the EHT. Such a space-borne interferometer would be able to conduct a comprehensive survey of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei and enable uniquely robust and accurate tests of strong gravity, through detection of the photon ring features. Subject Photon ringsRadio interferometrySpaceborne astrophysicsSuper massive black holesVLBI To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4ed35305-d659-4a37-9a43-136fdc6c32e9 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.09.035 Embargo date 2024-03-04 ISSN 0094-5765 Source Acta Astronautica, 213, 681-693 Bibliographical note Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 Ben Hudson, L. Gurvits, Maciek Wielgus, Zsolt Paragi, Lei Liu, Weimin Zheng Files PDF 1_s2.0_S0094576523005003_main.pdf 2.7 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:4ed35305-d659-4a37-9a43-136fdc6c32e9/datastream/OBJ/view