Astronomy Xkcd

Astronomy xkcd is a webcomic that is a blend of romance, sarcasm, math and language. Created by Randall Munroe, xkcd has become a cultural phenomenon that millions of people around the world enjoy reading.

Xkcd comics cover a wide range of topics, from astronomy to the nutty physics of swing-sets to airplane catapult design. The comics are filled with bonkers science and boundless curiosity, but are also clear and concise in addressing the most commonly asked questions about our planet.

In one of xkcd’s most notable comics, Cueball describes an upcoming astronomical event: the EHT, or Event Horizon Telescope, which is expected to release an image of a black hole in April 2019. This image will be the first ever photographed inside a black hole, and it should be quite impressive, as a black hole would return no light from any direction.

The EHT is a worldwide project designed to capture a black hole image, but it has run into some unexpected snags. For instance, the EHT system only allows viewing for a period of time before it shuts down, and this causes problems for Cueball. Luckily, NASA’s developers have some workarounds in place to prevent this from happening, but it still is quite an impractical problem.

It’s not just a problem with the EHT; astronomers have to be careful when trying to make their observations, as a few minor mistakes can cause the whole thing to fail. For example, a telescope can’t be too zoomed in, or it will simply not be able to capture enough information to get an image of the black hole.

That’s not to say there aren’t other ways to photograph a black hole; there are several methods, but none of them would be as effective as the EHT’s. Aside from a few tricks, scientists can still take a picture of a black hole, but they’ll need to wait for years before they’re able to pull it off.

The best astronomy xkcd comics are the ones that make fun of the most obscure aspects of astronomy. This includes things like how the best camera to observe a black hole uses a ring of pixels to capture the image, as well as how scientists could not use an actual camera to take a photograph of a black hole, because the device wouldn’t fit inside the black hole.