A supermassive black hole churns at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. To see it clearly, we need a telescope the size of the Earth.

Building that is impossible, so scientists have flipped the problem and turned the Earth into a telescope.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a global array of interconnected radio telescopes that is expected to soon provide humanity’s first glimpse of a black hole. Here are some fascinating facts about the world’s most remarkable telescope: