Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Astronomers have seen light from BEHIND a black hole for the first time. I explained the discovery and results to my editor, Levi. Congrats to D. Wilkins and the astronomy team!

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Special thank you to our X-Ray tier patrons: Carlos Patricio, David Cichowski, Eddie Sabbah, Fabrice Eap, Gil Chesterton, Isabel Herstek, Margaux Lopez, Matt Kaminski, Michael Schneider, Patrick Olson, Tommy Joseph, Vikram Bhat, Vincent Argiro, wc993219

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Creator/Host: Dianna Cowern
Videographer/Editor: Levi Butner

Resources and links
Original Nature paper: nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03667-0.epdf
“Stanford astrophysicists report first detection of light from behind a black hole”
https://news.stanford.edu/2021/07/28/first-detection-light-behind-black-hole/
“Dynamic Behavior of a Black Hole Corona”
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/01/The_dynamic_behaviour_of_a_black_hole_corona
eurekalert.org/news-releases/923516
iflscience.com/space/for-the-first-time-light-has-been-directly-observed-from-behind-a-supermassive-black-hole