C. Casadio

Seven billion years ago, a black hole at the center of a galaxy unleashed a gamma-ray flare — the most energetic form of light — with staggering power. Its light, after crossing cosmic distances, reached the MAGIC telescopes in December 2017.

An orchestra where musicians play in different cities, and the conductor hears them with a fraction-of-a-second delay. That's roughly how radio telescope networks like the Very Long Baseline Array work — a dozen antennas from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands catch the whispers of distant galaxies.