The first ever image of the region immediately around the environs of a black hole event horizon, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) global interferometer, caught the public imagination worldwide. This image was followed by a second, this time of the SgrA* black hole in the centre of our own Milky Way Galaxy. However, the EHT has also imaged other AGN jets with higher resolution than ever before. In addition, JWST is providing deep insights into AGN, with studies of examples in the local universe shedding light on how they interact with their host galaxies, whilst also finding the earliest known cases of SMBH accretion at the edge of the observable Universe.
Further, the soon-to-be completed Vera Rubin Telescope's repeated survey of the entire southern sky will reach greater depths than ever before, vastly increasing sample sizes and promising to provide groundbreaking insights into the variable nature of AGN. With the dawning of this new era in observational astronomy, this meeting will bring together AGN and black hole scientists to discuss the current state of the art and to plan for the future, specifically in terms of future progress with JWST, the potential upgrades to the EHT, and early science on the Vera Rubin Telescope.
Organisers:
Derek Ward-Thompson
James Mullaney