Paper 13355-29
Paper 13355-29
Enabling the sharpest images of a black hole with laser communications (Invited Paper)
29 January 2025 • 2:40 PM - 3:10 PM PST | Moscone South, Room 208 (Level 2)
Abstract
Explosive growth in digital technologies has created a radio interferometry renaissance, leading to breakthroughs including the first images of black holes with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). I will describe how advances in laser communications are enabling a new mission -- the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) -- that will extend the EHT to space. BHEX will produce the sharpest images in the history of astronomy, revealing the bright and narrow "photon ring" that is predicted to exist in images of black holes, produced from light that has orbited the black hole before escaping. I will present the motivation for BHEX, the pathway to launch within the next decade, and other science opportunities that are enabled by the emergence of laser communications for space science.
Presenter
Michael D. Johnson
Ctr. for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (United States)
Dr. Michael Johnson is a Federal Astrophysicist of the Smithsonian Institution, the former chair of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Science Council, and the Deputy Associate Director for Science at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. He is the Principal Investigator for the Black Hole Explorer, a mission concept that will extend the Event Horizon Telescope into space. His awards include the New Horizons in Physics Prize from the Breakthrough Foundation (with Dr. Alexandru Lupsasca), the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the Smithsonian Secretary's Research Award, and the Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award. Dr. Johnson graduated summa cum laude with bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Southern California, he holds master's and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and he has published over 130 refereed articles.