Kazu Akiyama

Isn't it a bitter irony that having a NASA center as the lead institution becomes a significant risk when competing for a NASA mission? Hopefully PRIMA will go forward.

Email from Chris Reynolds to the AXIS Team. Subject is disappointing AXIS news. Text of e-mail reads: Dear AXIS Friends, The AXIS team has received some very disappointing news – we have been informed by NASA HQ that AXIS is not eligible for selection and hence the Concept Study Report (CSR) will not be subjected to the full review process. AXIS represents the scientific aspirations of a large international community. As a member of one of the AXIS science working groups, you deserve a candid explanation from the PI of what happened and why. That is the purpose of this note. NASA’s decision was programmatic and not based on a review of the technology or science; the mission profile described in the submitted CSR was over the allowed budget and schedule. How was such a thing possible? In short, with NASA-GSFC as the AXIS managing center, the mission formulation process was critically compromised by the seismic shifts occurring in NASA and the Federal government. The AXIS study team was hit hard by three unprecedented challenges: NASA’s Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and the pressure at GSFC to resign/retire created a rapid and uncontrolled loss of over 20 personnel with key expertise during a critical mission formulation period, including the main GSFC Project Manager (Jimmy Marsh) and the X-ray mirror lead (Will Zhang) and many discipline engineers.

GSFC priorities rapidly realigned to the FY2026 President’s Budget Request (PBR) that eliminated the Probe program, further reducing the availability of GSFC engineering and mission formulation personnel (incl. cost analysts and schedulers) over the critical Summer and Fall months. Key work was halted for almost seven weeks when the core GSFC AXIS study team, dominated by NASA civil servants, was furloughed during the government shutdown. NASA HQ’s extension to the CSR submission deadline (from 18-Dec-2025 to 29-Jan-2026) was inadequate compensation for the disruption and lost time. Taken together, these factors disrupted the basic grass-roots costing process (which requires extensive “reach back” to the discipline engineers to assess labor requirements) as well as the cost-design iteration process that is central to the formulation of a cost-capped and schedule-constrained mission. While the mission design was finalized in April, our initial grass-roots costing (which was ~10% over budget) could only be completed in September due to the lack of assigned resources. With the subsequent government shutdown and then “pens down” in early-December forced by the GSFC Executive Review process, there was no opportunity to work through the set of cost/schedule savings that had already been identified by the AXIS team. Ultimately, the GSFC executive council gave AXIS leadership the choice of submitting a CSR with a non-compliant schedule and cost, or not submitting a CSR at all. We of course proceeded with the submission, including a narrative that we understood the path to a cost-compliant profile (that we would have discussed with the review panels during the Site Visit). NASA HQ has ruled this stance to be unacceptable. It is important to stress that NASA’s programmatic decision was before any technical review had been conducted. The decision was NOT due to any concerns about AXIS technology. Indeed, the AXIS Phase A work had major successes with furthering

Indeed, the AXIS Phase A work had major successes with furthering the key technologies. GSFC’s Next Generation X-ray Optics (NGXO) team successfully demonstrated iridium-coated, stress-compensated mirror segments that meet AXIS baseline requirements (i.e. segment-level performance at sub-arcsecond level).  NGXO also built the first AXIS demonstrator mirror module, learning critical lessons about mirror alignment, mounting and bonding. On the detector side, MIT quickly moved to fabricate AXIS-like CCDs and, working with our colleagues at Stanford, recently demonstrated that they achieve the required readout rate and spectral resolution. Similarly, NASA’s decision was NOT a judgment of the importance of AXIS science. The AXIS science case was rated excellent in the Step 1 review, and it only became stronger during our Phase A study. The AXIS Community Science Book, which many of you contributed to, is an extremely powerful demonstration of the relevance and importance of high-resolution X-ray observations to all areas of astrophysics. The Science Book is one of the most important legacies of the AXIS Phase A study and, I believe, will help define future mission concepts for many years to come. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all of your work on this. AXIS has been a long journey; we started under the leadership of Richard Mushotzky more than nine years ago. During that time, it’s been an enormous privilege to work with amazing people; the AXIS science team, the incredible/brilliant GSFC and Northrop Grumman engineers, and the wider astrophysics community. I am, quite frankly, livid that AXIS ultimately fell victim to the programmatic chaos of 2025. The astronomical community deserves better. I hope that NASA leadership, especially at GSFC and HQ, can have an honest discussion about how to better support and protect programs during extraordinary times.

For now, as a community, we must look forward. There is still one excellent mission under consideration for the Probe program, PRIMA, and we wish them a smooth and speedy path to selection and flight. In X-ray astronomy, the SMEX and MidEX programs represent concrete pathways for focused, high-impact missions, and the scientific case we built for AXIS provides a strong foundation for those concepts. The technologies we advanced in Step 1 and Phase A, particularly the NGXO mirror work and the MIT/Stanford detector demonstrations, can anchor the next generation of proposals. Most importantly, the AXIS Community Science Book, representing more than 500 scientists across, is a living document and a powerful signal to NASA leadership that this community is organized, serious, and not going anywhere. I encourage everyone to use it actively, as a resource for future concept development, for Astro2030 engagement, and for building the next mission that will deliver high angular resolution X-ray imaging to address the fundamental questions about black hole growth, galaxy evolution, and the hot universe that motivated AXIS from the beginning. This community built something remarkable over nine years and that doesn't end here. Thank you again for your support of AXIS over these times. Best Chris and the AXIS leadership team

The @axisprobe.bsky.social team learned that the phase A concept study report of AXIS (the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite) will not be reviewed because the lost personnel at NASA Goddard and government shutdown impacted our schedule and budget. 🔭 Here is the PI's e-mail with the explanation.

Leaving the US and now seeing this in my new country. Given that the US FY26 budgets for mathematical and physical sciences ended up without significant cuts, it is hard not to feel that the UK’s leadership may end up undermining itself faster than the US.

EHT Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Kazunori Akiyama (@kazuakiyama.bsky.social‬) has received a £4M Faraday Discovery Fellowship. The project, TomoGrav, will deliver the first dynamic 3D views of plasma around black holes.

Read more: eventhorizontelescope.org/news/2025/12...

Beyond astronomy, these AI techniques will enable faster and more precise medical imaging, reduce healthcare costs, and improve Earth monitoring, including sea-level measurements and climate studies. Check out our release here for details! (7/7)
www.hw.ac.uk/news/2025/wo...

Black Hole Explorer

What we will do? This program, TomoGrav, aims to develop the transformative AI algorithms to produce dynamic 3D black hole movies using upcoming EHT data. Tomograv will also help design the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) that extends EHT into space. (6/7)
www.blackholeexplorer.org

This move comes at an exciting moment for the UK as well!! My EHT colleague @profsera.bsky.social will also be relocating to the UK to join the University of Cambridge. Together, our arrival in the UK will strengthen and expand the EHT community. (5/7)
www.ast.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...

Why @heriotwattuni.bsky.social? Founded in 1821 as the world’s oldest mechanics’ institute and the 8th-oldest higher-education institution in UK, it now hosts a leading research hub for the most advanced AI-driven computational imaging directed by my main partner Prof. Wiaux (4/7)
basp.site.hw.ac.uk

I will join @heriotwattuni.bsky.social in Edinburgh as an Associate Professor in March 2026, slightly before I formally begin as a Faraday Discovery Fellow and a Professor in the fall. Very excited about the academic ecosystem of Edinburgh! (3/7)

With this enormous support by @royalsociety.org, I will launch the first UK-based observational astronomy group centered on black hole imaging with the Event Horizon Telescope (@ehtelescope.bsky.social) at the intersection of black hole physics, astronomy, and AI! (2/7)

JOB UPDATE! I'm moving to the UK after an amazing 10 years at MIT Haystack Observatory (@haystack.mit.edu). I have been awarded a The Royal Society's (@royalsociety.org) £4M Faraday Discovery Fellowship to be hosted at Heriot-Watt University (@heriotwattuni.bsky.social) in Edinburgh. (1/7)

Scientists are creating the first-ever 3D movies of black holes.

The work combines world-leading black hole imaging expertise with cutting-edge UK-developed AI.

A huge step forward for world science. 👏

Read more: lnkd.in/eXRvfamF

#HeriotWattUni @kazuakiyama.bsky.social

Three outstanding international researchers are set to establish new research groups in the UK through the Royal Society’s fast-track scheme for global talent, the Faraday Discovery Fellowships Accelerated International Route. #RSGrants royalsociety.org/news/2025/12...

Congratulations to @kazuakiyama.bsky.social and colleagues! Good news for black hole research and for science. We will miss you but are very happy for you and @heriotwattuni.bsky.social!

The EHT Collaboration recognizes outstanding contributions through the 6th Annual EHT Early Career & Outstanding PhD Awards.

Featured here are three 2025 Early Career Research & Leadership Award recipients: Iniyan Natarajan, Paul Tiede, and Efthalia Traianou. Congrats to all!

本間希樹教授が仁科記念賞を受賞｜国立天文台(NAOJ) 国立天文台水沢VLBI観測所長の本間希樹（ほんま まれき）教授が、2025年度（第71回）仁科記念賞を受賞しました。

私の指導教官の本間希樹さんがEHTに関連する研究で仁科賞を受賞しました。EHTの黎明期は日本のプレゼンスを国際的に確立するために本間さんと二人三脚でやってきたこともあり、自分のことのように嬉しくとても感慨深いです。VLBIの分野では３つ目の受賞、電波天文学では４つ目の受賞になります。そう考えると電波天文学やVLBIは物理学分野でもかなり健闘していると思います。
www.nao.ac.jp/news/topics/...

今月からイベント・ホライズン・テレスコープ(EHT)の副プロジェクトサイエンティストとして、EHTの運営チームに加わることになりました。プロジェクトサイエンティストのDe Laurentisさんと一緒に、500名以上の科学者が参加するEHTのコミュニティの国際的な科学運用を取りまとめることになります。来年には初のM87の動画撮影の観測が始まる重要な時期でとても楽しみにしています。

I'm happy to share that I've joined the management team of the EHT Collaboration (@ehtelescope.bsky.social) as Deputy Project Scientist! I'm honored to serve the EHT community—now over 500 scientists worldwide—as we enter this exciting era of capturing the first-ever movies of black holes.

New images of M87's black hole show its changing magnetic field YouTube video by ESO Chasing Starlight

Argh and I forgot the 🔭🧪 --> new black hole results look at first post! And also see:

youtu.be/7P04NXrNp5U?...

A tryptich of three images of the M87* black hole, from April in 2017, 2018 and 2021 (we lost 2019-2020 campaigns to technical/pandemic reasons). The fuzzy red donut shape is the same but the bright spot shifts in 2018 and seems to reset in 2021. Streamlines in the image indicate the polarisation vectors, that trace the magnetic field configuration. This too seemed unusual in 2018 and the whole field configuration flipped direction over the 4 year period!

Check out our new results on the M87* #blackhole w/ @ehtelescope.bsky.social ! We now have 3 frames in a 4yr "movie", including polarisation ⇔ magnetic fields. It's like tracking extreme sunspots just outside a black hole, the brightness and fields flip, yet the shape stays the same bc...gravity!

Groundbreaking new image! The EHT reveals the dynamic environment around black hole M87*.

The 2021 image shows a distinct shift in polarization patterns, tracing changes in magnetic fields near the event horizon.

eventhorizontelescope.org/new-eht-imag...

Two glowing yellow and red rings (the black holes) against a black background and separated down the middle by a thin white line. The left black hole has a blue circle and white elliptical shape overlaid. The right black hole has just the elliptical overlaid, with white lines to show how the black hole aligns with the shape.

Imagine a donut...now squash it🍩. That's what the black hole inside M87* looks like!

New EHT research reveals that the squishy distortion is not due to gravity, but the turbulent, swirling plasma around the black hole: www.aanda.org/10.1051/0004... #space #blackhole #astronomy #astrophysics

🌍📡 The global Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team met earlier this month in Berlin for the 2025 Collaboration Meeting!
120+ researchers shared breakthroughs, planned 2026 observations, and discussed turning black hole images into time-lapse “movies.” #astronomy #blackholes #globalscience

Breaking: NSF is suspending roughly 300 grants with UCLA, following a DOJ finding on Tuesday that the university violated Title VI by "creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students."

A man sitting in front of a slide for the Distinguished Lecture at CEDAR/GEM 2025

Congratulations to Haystack director Phil Erickson! Phil gave the prestigious CEDAR Distinguished Lecture on June 23 at the recent 2025 NSF joint Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) and Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Workshop.

www.haystack.mit.edu/news/erickso...

昨年度後半に東京電機大の学部生さんとやった卒論のプロジェクトが、2026年度の入学案内でハイライトされました。日米で検討が進むBlack Hole Explorer Missionの地上観測網に対して膨大な数の観測シミュレーションを行い、その評価をやっていただきました。MITにも来ていただいて、日米の若手研究者の交流の一環ともなりました。
www.d-pam.com/dendai/25143...

Could you starwatch all night? The IRAM 30-m telescope can!✨🌌 This observing mode is called VLBI, which involves telescopes around the world viewing the same object at the same time, such as a black hole, then combining the data to get super-high-resolution images.

Question: How do you feel about the theory that our universe could be in a black hole? Answer: This is a legitimately tricky question! It turns out that the total mass contained in the Universe is approximately the same as what we would expect to be contained within a black hole that has the same size as the Universe, which seems to indicate that the answer to this question should be “yes.” However, we also have plenty of observations of how the spacetime and material inside of our Universe behaves, and much of this behavior does not seem to comport with how we expect the interior of a black hole to behave. For instance, we know that the spacetime inside a black hole looks like a contracting cosmology. However, observational cosmology tells us that galaxies are moving away from each other, i.e., the universe is described by an expanding cosmology. Certainly, we do not appear to be suffering from the inevitable plunge into some central singularity that classical black hole interiors would suggest, which is perhaps the most salient thing to take away – i.e., even if the Universe is a “black hole” by some definition, it’s not something that we need to worry overly much about! u/gravitomagnet1sm & u/maserstorm

Question: What do you need to make a higher resolution picture? Answer: The resolution of any telescope is determined by two factors: the size of the telescope, and the wavelength of light at which it’s observing. To make higher-resolution pictures we need to either increase the size of our telescope or observe at a shorter wavelength of light. The size of the EHT is already approximately the size of the Earth, so the only way to make it physically larger is to put telescopes in space – which is something that many people are already working on! As far as the wavelength goes, the primary wavelength of light that the EHT observes at – the one that was used to produce the first images – is 1.3 millimeters. The EHT has already made initial forays into observations at shorter wavelengths, in particular targeting 0.87 millimeters, and there have been successful detections! But these short wavelengths are really hard to observe, because Earth’s atmosphere gets more and more opaque as the wavelength gets shorter. So we have to keep improving the sensitivity of the array in order to push to these shorter wavelengths, which is a big part of the current and next-generation upgrades to the EHT!

Question: My 8 year would love to know how do black holes shrink? Answer: It turns out that there’s a way for black holes to “evaporate,” loosely similar to how water can evaporate on a hot day. The details behind how exactly this “evaporation” – which is technically called “Hawking radiation” – takes place requires some fairly sophisticated physics knowledge. But the important thing to know is that it takes an incredibly long time for real-world black holes to evaporate in this way. For instance, a black hole the size of the one in M87 would take many, many times the age of the Universe to lose even 1% of its mass through this sort of evaporation.

Question: Is there suspected to be "quark matter" inside black holes like there is suspected to be inside large neutron stars? Answer: From Peter Galison: An astonishing feature of black holes is that from all we know, matter completely collapses, so no ordinary matter would be found inside the horizon. Not molecules, not atoms, not protons, not neutrons, and not even quarks.

"You asked, we answered!🫡 Here are some of our favorite questions from last Friday's Reddit Ask Me Anything for #BlackHoleWeek2025

Have more questions about the mysteries of black holes❓Read the full thread here: www.reddit.com/r/askscience...

東北大の田中さん、東京都市大の津村さんにお声がけ頂いていて、天文学の最新成果を解説する本の執筆に参加させていただきました。第一線で活躍している日本を代表する天文学者の皆さんに混ぜていただいて、私は超巨大ブラックホールの章を担当させていただいています。このような著者陣が集まる本は貴重だと思います。来週発売だそうです！ぜひご覧になってください！
www.kawade.co.jp/np/isbn/9784...