Scientists unveil first image of black hole, internet sees a doughnut

Scientist on Wednesday shared the first image of a black hole, but all Twitter could see was a doughnut, or a fantasy overlord.

The image of the black hole was captured using eight radio telescopes around the world. The black hole in a galaxy called M87 that is about 53 million light years from Earth.

“We have seen what we thought was unseeable. We have seen and taken a picture of a black hole. Here it is,” said Sheperd Doeleman of Harvard.

The Event Horizon Telescope tweeted the image:

Scientists have obtained the first image of a black hole, using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the center of the galaxy M87. The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun pic.twitter.com/AymXilKhKe

— Event Horizon 'Scope (@ehtelescope) April 10, 2019

The image looks like a flaming orange, yellow and black ring, but people online, while mostly amazing at the image, still thought of doughnuts, or science fiction movie.

Here’s a sampling of some of the reaction to the photo of the black hole;

Paul Scott Canavan, among many others, saw a doughnut:

used Photoshop's shake reduction filter on the Black Hole photo and was amazed by the result#EHTBlackHole pic.twitter.com/RLBPyuIx3T

— Paul Scott Canavan (@abigbat) April 10, 2019

Fakhar Khalid also saw a doughnut:

I am sure the spatial resolution of the #blackhole images will get better in future. pic.twitter.com/uN9lmN9fGe

— Fakhar Khalid (@FakharKhalid) April 10, 2019

Kitmingwong incorporated Homer Simpson into the doughnut theme:

Simpson: Why are you guys staring at my donut? #EHTBlackHole pic.twitter.com/6v8iFi25l4

— KitmingWong (@Kitmingwong) April 10, 2019

Another Simpson reference:

MMMMMM .... DONUT ? #blackhole #EHTBlackHole #FirstBlackHoleImage pic.twitter.com/qNOvPaFmb1

— 44Games ?? (@FortyFourGames) April 10, 2019

Gabor Heja saw the “biggest Cinnamon Raisin Bagel in the world”:

This photo of the black hole is awesome, but wait... Enhance! Hmm, enhance! One more time, enhance! Whoa. The biggest Cinnamon Raisin Bagel in the world, and it's still hot! #EHT #EventHorizonTelescope pic.twitter.com/aPDVtLHF2u

— Gabor Heja (@gheja_) April 10, 2019

Others saw the Eye of Sauron from the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy:

#EHTBlackHole that's no black hole, they found Sauron. Middle Earth here we come pic.twitter.com/Hqqn9apg75

— NoleMan (@NoleMan22) April 10, 2019

Anyone else seeing that this Black Hole is the Eye of Sauron?! We screwed! #EHTBlackHole pic.twitter.com/LTbsKAnJvo

— Jason Pellegrini (@JPellegrini1983) April 10, 2019

Another user juxtaposed photos of the black hole and Sauron with photos Jeff Goldblum checking his phone and reacting.

wait a minute... #ehtblackhole pic.twitter.com/puUp46B2kd

— ????? ????? ?????? (@DigitalAbdullah) April 10, 2019

Many Twitter using also made the connection to Soundgarden’s seminal 90s hit “Black Hole Sun” from the “Superunknown” album.

So, here’s the first photo ever taken of a black hole. And also here’s the album cover for Soundgarden “Superunknown”, which contained the song “Black Hole Sun” ?#EHTBlackHole pic.twitter.com/m7zUQYIUmR

— José Morales-González (@josemorgo) April 10, 2019

In the end maybe it just looks like a lost Cheerio under a sofa pillow.

Just found a #EHTBlackHole on my sofa pic.twitter.com/ocQDN3iwv0

— Keiron Walsh (@keiron_walsh) April 10, 2019

The Associated Press contributed to this report.