It has been described as seeing the unseeable and considered a significant milestone in human understanding of the universe.
But the first-ever image of a black hole is also – as noted by rather a lot of social media users – slightly underwhelming. Within moments of it being released, Twitter was flooded with jokes.
The resemblance to the potent symbol of evil in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was not lost on some.
Today marks an amazing day in space history: the first image of a #BlackHole
— Ashley Ross (@ashanneross) April 10, 2019
Scientists have also discovered where Morder and Sauron's eye are located. pic.twitter.com/GZtIyGsdMn
Oh cool the eye of Sauron is out there in space, just staring at us. No biggie. https://t.co/bmdGgG99US
— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 10, 2019
Lots of people thought it looked more like food than a space phenomenon.
The first photo of a black hole.
— joe heenan (@joeheenan) April 10, 2019
Incredible stuff pic.twitter.com/npUmdTTN2n
wait... zoom out pic.twitter.com/D9gXZtjqY7
— Matt Buechele (@mattbooshell) April 10, 2019
I rest my case pic.twitter.com/R0OQLnbTxG
— Simon Schama (@simon_schama) April 10, 2019
And, given the timing, there was an inevitable round of Brexit related quips
Not lost on politicos in Brussels and at home the black hole is being revealed across town from where EU leaders are opening discussions about delaying Brexit https://t.co/JcX9jikf63
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) April 10, 2019
One of the main news stories today is about an all consuming blackness that is sucking in everything around it and destroying it.
— Cyrus Bales (@CyrusBales) April 10, 2019
But that's enough about #Brexit, in other news the first ever picture taken of a black hole has been made public.
Hands up who thought we’d know what a black hole looked like before we found out what Brexit looked like?
— Ben Stanley (@BDStanley) April 10, 2019
Not as far away as you think: 55 million light years. That's close to the #brexit date isn't it?
— René de Vries (@redevries) April 10, 2019
They Brexit jokes weren’t universally popular, however.
Me escaping your Brexit black hole jokes pic.twitter.com/s36GJSIzyk
— Gabriel Phillips (@gabbythegaijin) April 10, 2019
And Brexit wasn’t the only source of political jokes spurred by the black hole image.
A black hole is extraordinarily dense, and destroys anything that has the misfortune to come near it. pic.twitter.com/ExP7v7FfHi
— Tom Freeman (@SnoozeInBrief) April 10, 2019
The blurry image looked a little familiar to some early 2000’s gamers.
blackhole looks amazing 😍 pic.twitter.com/w9rqA83jSc
— DitzyFlama (@DitzyFlama) April 10, 2019
There was nostalgia for 1979 Disney movie the Black Hole, with the image used in a homage to the cheesy sci-fi film’s original poster.
A journey that begins where everything ends.#BlackHole pic.twitter.com/it9mNxrZpT
— Last Exit To Nowhere (@LASTEXITshirts) April 10, 2019
Are any of these guys inside? That's all I want to know. pic.twitter.com/yHomhO3E2Z
— Peter Sue Me Devin Kaufman (@inklake) April 10, 2019
Some saw a media influence that went back further in time.
I thought I’d seen that before #blackhole pic.twitter.com/3QtpTOxBaI
— Corms🦡 (@Cormsbadger) April 10, 2019
There was also a suggestion the gravity of the black hole played a part in dragging the stratospheric early 90s’ success of R.E.M. to the ground with the lacklustre Monster album.
— Jonny Sharples (@JonnyGabriel) April 10, 2019
The telescope array used to photograph the black hole was so powerful that it could spot a drawing pin in New York from London, but it wasn’t as powerful as this Twitter user’s:
used my own backyard telescope to view the black hole and frankly I love it pic.twitter.com/sI0WA5HXBF
— CK (@cranekicker) April 10, 2019
Some wondered if the black hole itself might be unimpressed with the quality of the image that earth scientists had been able to capture by combining data from eight of the world’s leading radio observatories.
Scientists: Here's the first ever picture of a black hole!
— Zito (@_Zeets) April 10, 2019
Black hole: Let me see.
Scientists: We basically made an earth-sized telescope to capture it.
Black hole: Looks like it was taken from an android camera. Untag me from it.
The image also made an unflattering comparison to the artist impressions of black holes we’ve grown used to over the years – almost like when you’ve spent too long editing a picture to make it shine on social media.
Profile pic vs tagged pic pic.twitter.com/QG3bwCk7q1
— Ben Machell (@ben_machell) April 10, 2019
Scientists say that at the event horizon, light is bent in a perfect loop, meaning that if you stood there you would be able to see the back of your own head. Which is a little bit how it feels being on social media sometimes.
All the humour though shouldn’t obscure what a big deal the image is for scientists working in the field – a visual validation of Einstein’s theories.
Maelstrom at the gates of Hell. First-ever image of a black hole, wider than our whole solar system. Einstein, we rejoice in your brilliance. pic.twitter.com/Psp2TMwVk8
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) April 10, 2019
Here is the image of the black hole in M87, and at the press conference the Event Horizon team just said it is precisely as predicted by General Relativity. Einstein right again - wouldn’t he have loved to see this! https://t.co/VzkTLWC58D
— Brian Cox (@ProfBrianCox) April 10, 2019
