Flamsteed Lecture: How to Take a Picture of a Black Hole

The recent pictures of black holes, taken using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), have captured headlines around the world. But how were these pictures made? It was a tremendous technological achievement. In this lecture, Professor Derek Ward-Thompson will discuss the technical challenges that had to be overcome. There will also be a discussion of the interpretation of the images, and the work that has been undertaken since they were first published. What does this all means for our understanding of black holes and for the future enhancements to the EHT and what this might mean for black hole understanding in the future?

Meet the speaker

Derek teaches across a range of subjects in Physics and Astrophysics. His particular expertise lies in the fields of star and planet formation, as well as interstellar magnetic fields, from the most diffuse regions of space to the dense environments around the event horizons of black holes. He is part of the 'Event Horizon Telescope Consortium', which published the first ever image of a black hole in April 2019.

Derek obtained his PhD from Durham University in 1987. He worked at Lancashire Polytechnic for three years and carried out postdoctoral research at Cambridge University for three years. He was a senior research fellow at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, for five years, before being appointed to a lectureship in Cardiff University in 1998. Derek was awarded a personal chair by Cardiff University in 2007, and promoted to Deputy Head of School in 2010. He returned to UCLan and was made Director of the Jeremiah Horrocks Institute in July 2012. He became Head of School in 2018. He also leads a research group in Observational Star Formation, which has both post-doctoral and post-graduate members, partly funded through a consolidated grant from STFC.

Main image: Comet 12P-Pons-Brooks Taking a Final Bow © Dan Bartlett - ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 Planets, Comets & Asteroids.jpg