Unveiling the Mysteries of the Universe: A Clear Image of a Black Hole Jet Captured Through Global Collaboration

1. The "Historical Image" Brought by the Global Radio Network

On June 13, 2025, an image released alongside a press release from Chalmers University of Technology excited astronomers worldwide. The false-color image on the right, with multiple contour layers, shows a high-energy plasma jet emanating from the center of galaxy J0123+3044. The left image is from conventional EVN observations alone, while the right image includes MeerKAT. In the right image, the structures near the core are separated, and the jet's opening angle and intensity gradient are clearly revealed.phys.orgchalmers.se

2. Why MeerKAT Was the Key

MeerKAT is a mid-frequency array with 64 antennas, each 13.5 m in diameter, distributed in the Karoo Desert of South Africa. Its collecting power as an interferometer rivals that of a single 100 m mirror, making it the most sensitive in the southern hemisphere. The EVN connects over 20 stations across Europe, Asia, and Africa via optical fiber, with a maximum baseline of 9,000 km. For the first time, MeerKAT joined the EVN in "full observation mode," extending the north-south baseline and dramatically filling the u-v plane. As a result, sensitivity improved by about three times, and beam size improved by over 30%.sarao.ac.zajive.eu

3. The Mechanism of VLBI—Technology that "Uses the Earth as a Lens"

VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) involves each station recording the same radio waves with timestamps from atomic clocks, later overlaying them with a correlator. For wavelengths in the 1 cm band, a 10,000 km baseline yields a theoretical resolution of 0.2 milliarcseconds, equivalent to distinguishing a 1 yen coin placed between Tokyo and London. As an array, MeerKAT's 64 elements act as a single large station, resulting in massive data transfer, but real-time processing is enabled by South Africa's optical fiber network and JIVE's (Netherlands) DiFX correlator.jive.eu

4. Scientific Impact—Shedding Light on the Mysteries of Black Hole Jets

J0123+3044 is a distant galaxy whose light takes about 9 billion years to reach Earth. From the recent image, shock fronts and magnetic structures within the jet can be analyzed, providing clues to distinguish jet generation models (whether directly connected to the black hole event horizon or originating from the accretion disk). Furthermore, the improved resolution allows for tracking changes in jet width over time, enabling the quantification of plasma instabilities and energy dissipation processes. This complements the study of the "ring" captured by the Event Horizon Telescope in M87.arxiv.org

5. A Stepping Stone to SKA

MeerKAT is the official pathfinder for SKA-Mid. In the future, thousands of units, including Australia's SKA-Low, will collaborate, with sensitivity expected to increase by an order of magnitude and resolution by several times. This success served as a rehearsal for realizing "SKA-VLBI," addressing challenges in data transfer, standardization, and personnel exchange one by one. Sweden has announced its membership in SKA, and Japan is exploring international VLBI collaboration with VERA and J-VN, with participation from the Asia-Pacific region expected to accelerate.chalmers.se

6. Cross-border Teamwork

This observation involved 14 countries, including China, South Korea, Italy, and Spain. On-site personnel were minimal, with remote operations conducted in three shifts across time zones. The cloud infrastructure established post-pandemic and the European research network GÉANT supported high-speed streaming. It became a model case of "distributed research," allowing young researchers worldwide to participate in data analysis while keeping operational costs low.engineeringnews.co.za

7. Reactions on Social Media—"Goosebumps from the Resolution" "Is the Data Released Yet?"

Immediately after the announcement, a post by Phys.org on LinkedIn went viral, recording over 4,000 impressions in just 10 hours. The official SKA Observatory commented, "The future of VLBI is visible," with congratulatory emojis from researchers and space enthusiasts.linkedin.comlinkedin.com

In the Japanese-speaking world, <#MeerKAT #VLBI> quickly rose in the science cluster on Twitter (X). Posts such as "Is this the next after EHT?" and "Data release → want to play with citizen science" followed, with shared visualization GIFs and voluntary Japanese translations. In fact, JIVE has announced plans to release some raw data for educational purposes.

8. Impact on Japan

Domestically, in addition to the four VERA stations, the 65 m station in Ishigaki Island began test participation this spring. High-resolution observations directly correlate with a surge in international co-authored papers and an increase in student applications for overseas internships. In terms of data processing, a GPU hybrid correlation test with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's CRAY is planned, with the industry aiming to enter with 5G edge computing and optical communication technology. It is attracting attention as a good example of driving both academic DX and regional revitalization.

9. Future Prospects—Towards "Earth + Lunar Baseline"

The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering establishing a lunar VLBI station in the 2030s to use the Earth-Moon baseline for 10 μas-class imaging. The recent achievements highlighted the technical and collaborative challenges and demonstrated the feasibility. Not only black holes but also gravitational wave sources, cosmological neutral hydrogen line mapping, and other scientific domains that can only be accessed with ultra-high resolution and sensitivity are emerging.

10. Conclusion

The "handshake" between MeerKAT and EVN symbolized the evolution of telescopes from "national facilities" to "global shared infrastructure." Data travels at the speed of light, and analysis is conducted simultaneously on PCs worldwide. For the first time, humanity has begun to transform our mother planet itself into a giant lens, challenging the deep universe—a moment when the door to such an era opened with a sound, witnessed by us in real-time.