By Paige Colley 

BOSTON — Uniting during Wednesday’s HubWeek Panel “Bodies in Space: The Next Generation of Exploration,” three scientists laying the foundation for the advancement of space travel shared stories about how their work has depended on collaboration. One is studying space travel, one is trying to make it habitable and one is ready to go to space. Without each other, the dream of furthering space exploration would be far from possible. 

Michael Johnson, one of the panelists, is a Smithsonian astrophysicist and Harvard lecturer who was part of the team that recently released the first photograph of a black hole. 

“To take this picture required creating a new type of telescope,” Johnson said. To take a photo of a black hole, even a low-resolution one, would require a telescope far larger than any in existence.