And the person is right. I really took some time and looked at the comments. But briefly at the beginning: Astronomers have succeeded in imaging a black hole in the center of the Milky Way for the first time. Just compiling the volumes of data from radio telescopes around the world took several years.

This is what the Tagesschau posted on Facebook on May 12, 2022. There was also a photo, THE photo. It's certainly a little blurry and we have to have a little imagination or prior knowledge, but we should be able to imagine to some extent what the photo is supposed to represent.

But it shouldn't be about the photo with the black hole, but about the comments. The comments! A mixture of trolling, belief in conspiracy and hostility to science. But there are also socially critical statements about the posting and the discovery.

Comments on the black hole

Of course, there are occasional voices or statements that this picture could just be an expensive fake. Just like the provocative comment “Uuhhii! The next fairy tale! – How much will it cost the taxpayer this time?”, which has a fairly long line of answers behind it.

Many comments also point out the supposedly poor image quality.
“If my cell phone took such blurry photos, I would first return it ✌️✌️😅” we read. But also statements like “In reality it is a donut with orange glaze. Always those greasy fingers on the lens.”, which are of course mixed with a pinch of humor.

Nevertheless, the first comment from the Tagesschau explains why the picture looks the way it does. In this commentary we read: “This view into the center of the Milky Way is a groundbreaking technical achievement. The shadow of the huge object was shown. The black hole itself cannot be imaged because it does not emit any light, but instead swallows all light that comes too close to it. With its incredibly strong attraction, it attracts light into its interior, but also gas and dust and entire stars.

Thanks to this feeding, it is now heavier than four million specimens of our Sun, making it the largest and heaviest object in our Milky Way.
In the case of the image now published, the calculation work took a full five years. Anton Zensus, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and chairman of the board of the “Event Horizon Telescope” project, explains: “The processing was actually very difficult - it took a very long time, a tedious task. And there was great joy when we were able to say at the end: We have the picture!”

But also a lot of criticism

The scientific performance is also critically assessed in many comments, namely in relation to the costs. “Probably the most expensive photo of all time, what could we have done with the money on earth?” is expressed in one comment, another says “...and now we can go back to the 'unimportant' things like: hunger and thirst in the world, satisfy humanity and make it happy, end wars, enforce freedom of expression throughout the world, treat men and women equally and and and…. A 'holey' success so far... “.

The question is of course to what extent this comparison represents a form of “whataboutism” and can of course be discussed in more detail. Elsewhere the comments go even further, linking politics to research and the black hole photo. “When will the solidarity tax for exploring holes in the sky come? Haven't the olive greens thought of anything about this yet?" we read, as well as "An area in which our tax money is well invested."

At this point the comments certainly drift away from the actual topic and an out-of-context discussion arises. And again I think to myself: Yes, that's how social media works. We all have the opportunity and chance to take part in discussions on social issues, but on the other hand we always come across the problems of relevance and accuracy. Because many statements on social media don't necessarily have any relevance, but in the end they are just there.

And many statements don't have to be true, but as a participant I should be able to check statements at the end. And therefore I would like to end with the following comment, which I also found under the Tagesschau posting on the topic of “Black Hole”:

Well, the expert astronomers are now well gathered here in the comments. Completely retrained from national coach to virologist. Fine. I'll get some popcorn.

This might also be of interest: Sloppy fake: No, the “Stern” did not call Zelenskyj “King of Lies”. Allegedly, the “Stern” called Zelenskyj “King of Lies” on a cover cover a year ago. But the fake was created very sloppily and is easy to see through. Continue reading …


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