M87*

The image of M87* was made by linking radio observatories around the world, creating a virtual dish nearly as wide as Earth. By observing at millimeter wavelengths and combining data with very long baseline interferometry, astronomers reconstructed a ring of emission encircling a dark central shadow, matching predictions from general relativity for a spinning black hole. The achievement required synchronizing telescopes across continents, creating a global network that could see details smaller than a single telescope could ever resolve. It represents a triumph of international collaboration and technological innovation.

Black holes mark an end for the matter that crosses their horizons, yet jets from M87* help shape its host galaxy on scales of tens of thousands of light years. The same gravity that erases local histories also sculpts large scale structure. In the archive, this image sits beside extinction layers and supernova remnants as another example of endings that reorganise the universe rather than simply erase it. The black hole shows that death and creation are not opposites but part of a continuous cycle. What appears as an ending can also be a beginning, shaping the structure of the universe on the largest scales.