First photo of black hole inspires memes from Eye of Sauron to bagels

The fiery orange and black photo was soon compared to many circular things from food to pop culture characters. For most it resembled The Eye of Sauron, the symbol of evil in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series, while for others it resembled a photo taken by them in an inebriated state.

“in after years he [Sauron] rose like a shadow of Morgoth and a ghost of his malice, and walked behind him on the same ruinous path down into the void.” https://t.co/LcwjH9aoRH

— Tolkien Society (@TolkienSociety) April 10, 2019

“Sauron has regained much of his former strength. He cannot yet take physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency.” #LOTR pic.twitter.com/wRbrVkmsip

— Con Solo 🔜 Star Wars Celebration (@ConStar24) April 10, 2019

The Eye of Sauron is apparently now hiding in the middle of space waiting patiently for his return. https://t.co/8AgLpWygPC

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) April 10, 2019

NSF: Amazing first photo of black hole! This changes everything!

Sauron: Mother? pic.twitter.com/4ML5ytcZuX

— Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) April 10, 2019

black hole pic legit made me crave a bagel, so thats where im headed

— k austin collins (@melvillmatic) April 10, 2019

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

Me: mum take a nice picture of us
Mum: how does it work
Me: just press the button fgs
Mum: pic.twitter.com/iEePmsxv5N

— Rosie Percy (@rosiepercy) April 10, 2019

This was the plan all along. pic.twitter.com/pdmuaWXglp

— James O’Malley (@Psythor) April 10, 2019

Me in the mirror before a night out vs. Me in the tagged photos https://t.co/Rkz6rZVSXD

— Tara Mulholland (@tara_mulholland) April 10, 2019

My face when I saw the black hole pic.twitter.com/yIbCpQkbUW

— Jacob Aron (@jjaron) April 10, 2019

This is basically every picture I accidentally take while I drinking. https://t.co/vqtHOiyp0A

— Ben Jaffe (@bzjaffe) April 10, 2019

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The first photograph has comes from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. The EHT is a network of 10 radio telescopes on four continents that collectively operate like a single instrument nearly the size of the Earth. The EHT project is an international partnership formed in 2012.

Its main objective is to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole. The findings will provide insight into the celestial object so dense that its gravitational field swallows everything, including light.

Black holes are extremely dense pockets of matter with incredible mass and minuscule volume.