Astronomers receive ERC Synergy Grant to make colour movies of black holes and build new telescope in Africa

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Synergy Grant, named "BlackHolistic", of 14 million Euro to a team of Dutch, British, Finnish, and Namibian astronomers to make colour movies of black holes. They will build the first ever African millimetre-wave radio telescope in Namibia to achieve their goal. The telescope will take part in the global Event Horizon Telescope network that became famous for making the first image of a black hole. The new grant will help to transform this network from making still images towards making movies and to understand black holes across the entire Universe. Over the course of six years, astronomers Heino Falcke (Radboud University), Sera Markoff (University of Amsterdam) and Rob Fender (Oxford University) will conduct research on black holes from different perspectives. Black holes are icons of the fundamental nature of gravity, the mysterious force shaping the Universe. They are also the Universe's most efficient power houses, turning infalling gas into energy and outflows that, together with gravity, help mould galaxies and ultimately stars and planets.