Seeing the Galaxy’s central black hole with the Africa Millimetre Telescope

Abstract

Using very long baseline interferometry Astronomers are able to link together telescopes in different parts of the world to obtain incredible angular resolution of millionths of an arc second. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is such a network, and this collaboration has recently published the first-ever images of the supermassive blackholes at the centre of Messier 87 and our own Milky Way. The Africa Millimetre Telescope (AMT) will be the first millimetre-wave telescope on the African continent, and will be an important addition to the EHT network. The AMT will improve the EHT’s resolution, thus enabling us to better understand these strange but important objects. The AMT will be located in Namibia, and will see first-light in early 2024.