--- title: Black Hole Photo Memes Are Out of This World description: Scientists released the first ever picture of a black hole, and the Internet got to work making memes and jokes. canonical: https://time.com/5567498/black-hole-memes/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-10T16:08:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:36.001Z og:title: The Eye of Sauron? A Blurry Bagel? The Black Hole Memes Are Out of This World og:description: Scientists released the first ever picture of a black hole, and the Internet got to work og:url: https://time.com/5567498/black-hole-memes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79db781fea26659e/6989480309208f01904139f0/black-hole-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Black Hole Photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Eye of Sauron? A Blurry Bagel? The Black Hole Memes Are Out of This World twitter:description: Scientists released the first ever picture of a black hole, and the Internet got to work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt79db781fea26659e/6989480309208f01904139f0/black-hole-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Eye of Sauron? A Blurry Bagel? 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 10, 2019 4:08 PM UTC  The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides 55 million light-years from Earth and has a mass 6.5-billion times that of the Sun. National Science Foundation by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Apr 10, 2019 4:08 PM UTC The [first picture of a black hole](http://time.com/5566225/first-black-hole-picture-photo/) was released Wednesday, marking a giant feat for science — and, because this is the internet, paving the way for a slew of memes. The photo — a blurry shot that shows a black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy — quickly became meme fodder as people drew comparisons between the fiery orange circle and other famous round objects. The Eye of Sauron, the flaming eye featured in _The_ _Lord of the Rings,_ immediately jumped to mind for many: > [](https://twitter.com/indyfromspace/status/1115967914723676162) > [](https://twitter.com/KickAssTakeNaps/status/1115984226707484673) > [](https://twitter.com/joshgad/status/1115979466432491525) > [](https://twitter.com/Martinhorne/status/1115987168911155201) > [](https://twitter.com/nwquah/status/1115965982529523712) For some, the black hole picture served as a reminder to eat breakfast: > [](https://twitter.com/melvillmatic/status/1115971129385074688) > [](https://twitter.com/gheja%5F/status/1115980173663449088) > [](https://twitter.com/mekosoff/status/1115967225691877377) > [](https://twitter.com/CarrieRickey/status/1115998185779015680) > [](https://twitter.com/FakharKhalid/status/1115972459000487937) Bagels and a famed eye from _The_ _Lord of the Rings_ are logical comparisons to a fuzzy picture of a black hole. But things soon took a turn for the wild: > [](https://twitter.com/Fred%5FDelicious/status/1115997333496451073) > [](https://twitter.com/mattbooshell/status/1115972723036053504) > [](https://twitter.com/ashleymayer/status/1115975466773569536) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5567498/black-hole-memes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5567498/black-hole-memes/"},"headline":"The Eye of Sauron? A Blurry Bagel? 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