# First black-hole image

> An image made with 8 telescopes became the subject of online comparisons.

- Owner: Event Horizon Telescope
- Kind: Moment
- Sector: Education
- Seed date: 2019-04-10
- Milestone date: 2019-04-10
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 10 (Niche, provisional), v1.2
- Mechanics: Platform jump, Press loop

## Summary

The reveal was synchronized across six press conferences: all began at 13:00 UTC and unveiled the image at 13:07. A single recognizable orange ring then became shared raw material for jokes, while Bouman’s reaction photo gave the collaboration a human entry point.

## Timeline

- 2019-04-10 — Event Horizon Telescope (Open web) — Six coordinated press conferences began at 13:00 UTC; the black-hole image was revealed at 13:07 UTC.
- 2019-04-10 — WIRED (Open web) — WIRED described the global telescope network behind the image.
- 2019-04-10 — Milestone: Twitter users (X) — Users compared the orange ring to the Eye of Sauron and breakfast foods.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/first-black-hole-image

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “First black-hole image.” Case HIS-01036. Spread Score v1.2: 10/100. Updated 2026-10-16. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01036