Pōwehi: New research captures a decade of movement

Snapshots of Pōwehi (M87*) obtained through imaging / geometric modeling. (Credit: M. Wielgus, D. Pesce and the EHT Collaboration)

A new study highlights the integral role telescopes on Maunakea played in revealing how Pōwehi, the supermassive black hole, moves. New analysis of data taken 2009–2013 by the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Submillimeter Array (SMA) show Pōwehi’s shadow was moving during that time frame and has continued to do so ever since.

Pōwehi made international news in 2019 after becoming the world’s very first image of a black hole. JCMT and SMA played a vital role in capturing the image and Larry Kimura, a Univesity of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Hawaiian language professor, collaborated with astronomers on the Hawaiian name. Pōwehi means embellished dark source of unending creation and comes from the Kumulipo, the primordial chant describing the creation of the Hawaiian universe.

Read full article at - https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/09/23/data-from-maunakea-telescopes-unravel-powehi-mysteries/