Black Hole Initiative - Harvard University

BHI Fellow Daniel Palumbo and our friends at are featured in a recent Science article exploring how artificial intelligence is changing astronomy and astrophysics.

As AI becomes an increasingly common tool in research, astronomers are grappling with what it could mean for the future of discovery and our understanding of the universe.

Link in bio

Science

Today we are throwing it back 5 years to when BHI alum Dominic Chang (then a fellow) was interviewed on the Adam MA Simpson podcast.

https://bit.ly/49Z0WyB and https://bit.ly/441NM0e

On June 4 and 5, 2026, the Black Hole Explorer team held a successful Technical Interchange Meeting at the CfA, with discussion focused on prototyping plans for the upcoming year. This meeting brought together scientists, engineers, and other staff from many of our partner institutions, including the BHI, University of Arizona, MIT-LL, Lockheed Martin, and NRAO. Big thanks to everyone who attended!

BHI fellow Sasha Plavin has recently been published.

https://bit.ly/4dYRJZC

Direct Very Long Baseline Interferometry Detection of Interstellar Turbulence Imprint on a Quasar: TXS 2005+403

Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 1003, Number 1
Publication Date: May 13, 2026
Authors: A.V. Plavin, et al.

We report the first unambiguous detection of refractive substructure in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) using ground-based very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Our analysis of TXS 2005+403—observed at 1–5 GHz along a line of sight through the Cygnus region—reveals clear signatures of turbulence-induced substructure on long baselines that cannot be explained by the smooth scatter-broadened profile from diffractive effects alone. This signal persists across multiple observations spanning 2010–2019, demonstrating stable scattering properties along this line of sight. The combination of high flux density, compact intrinsic structure, and strong scattering establishes TXS 2005+403 as an exceptional laboratory for probing Galactic turbulence. This detection demonstrates that AGNs can serve as cosmic lighthouses illuminating interstellar plasma across the sky, complementing pulsar scintillation studies and informing scattering mitigation for millimeter-wavelength imaging of Sagittarius A*.

✨ Congratulations to BHI affiliates Tintin Nguyen, Erandi Chavez, and Sol Gutiérrez-Lara on their recent academic milestones! ✨

Tintin Nguyen and Erandi Chavez have each earned a Master’s in Passing in Astronomy on their way toward their PhDs at Harvard.

Sol Gutiérrez-Lara graduated with a joint AB in Physics and Astrophysics and a concurrent AM in Physics. Next year, Sol will continue at the University of Cambridge as a Harvard-UK Fellow pursuing an MASt in Mathematics (Theoretical Physics), with plans to continue studying high-energy theory and black holes.

All three students have been advised by BHI PI Michael Johnson and members of his research group.

Tintin will continue research on black hole simulations, polarization in EHT black hole images, accretion physics, and JWST observations aimed at measuring black hole masses for future ngEHT and BHEX targets. This summer, Tintin will also attend a plasma astrophysics summer school in Ensenada, Mexico, and help lead astronomy outreach events through Astronomy on Tap Boston.

Erandi will continue in the Astronomy PhD program at Harvard University, focusing on producing images of black holes using the EHT and other radio observatories. Through these images, researchers can better understand how black holes consume matter and launch relativistic plasma jets powerful enough to punch through entire galaxies.

We are proud to celebrate their accomplishments and excited to see what comes next!

Black holes have become more than astrophysical objects.

They appear in music, film, visual art, and performance as metaphors for attraction, distance, collapse, mystery, and the unknown.

IVE’s “Black Hole” is another reminder that cosmological ideas continue to move far beyond science and into shared cultural imagination.

IVE

https://bit.ly/4fCC7w7

Black holes have become more than astrophysical objects. They appear in music, film, visual art, and performance as metaphors for attraction, distance, collapse, mystery, and the unknown. IVE’s “Black Hole” is another reminder that cosmological ideas continue to move far beyond science and into shared cultural imagination. #ive #bhi #blackhole #kpop @ivestarship #dive

BHI graduate student Hyerin Cho, BHI fellow Cora Prather, BHI P*s Ramesh Narayan and Priya Natarajan, and BHI alumni Kung-Yi Su and Angelo Ricarte have recently published a new paper.

https://bit.ly/4wtxiuG

Bridging Scales in Black Hole Accretion and Feedback: Subgrid Prescription from First Principles

Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 1002, Issue 2
Publication Date: May 2026
Authors: Hyerin Cho, Cora Prather, Ramesh Narayan, Kung-Yi Su, Angelo Ricarte, Priyamvada Natarajan and Antonio J. Porras-Valverde

Understanding how supermassive black holes (BHs) couple to their host galaxies across a vast spatial and temporal dynamic range remains a central challenge in galaxy evolution.

BHI Fellow Sasha Plavin has published a new paper, and the work was recently featured by EarthSky.

The article explores how interstellar turbulence in the Milky Way can distort light, offering new insight into how we observe the universe.

More details on the paper coming soon!

https://bit.ly/4uCnCNt

That’s a wrap on our 2026 conference! The tote bags are packed, the programs are well-thumbed, and the conversations are still going. Thank you to everyone who joined us for such a thoughtful and memorable few days. We’re already looking forward to next year.
If you weren’t able to attend: make sure to check out our YouTube channel this summer!

✨We’re excited to announce that author Gautam Satishchandran (Princeton University) will be joining us as a speaker at our 9th Annual Conference. ✨

I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Gravity Initiative.

In 2015, I received a B.S. in both Biochemistry and Physics at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst. I received my masters in Physics in 2017 and Ph.D. in Physics in 2022 under the advisement Prof. Robert Wald at the University of Chicago Enrico Fermi Institute.

My interests are broadly in general relativity, quantum field theory in curved spacetimes and quantum gravity ranging from fundamental properties of scattering and black holes to tabletop experiments in quantum gravity.

Outside of my research, I am passionate about teaching, communicating science to the general public, and building a more inclusive, equitable scientific community.