Highest-Resolution Radio Astronomy: The Quest for the Black Hole

Abstract

Radio observations with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) provide the highest resolution in astronomy. Combining earth-bound with space-based telescopes and advancing the observations to mm-wavelengths increases the resolution even further. These methods enable us to probe directly the vicinities of the presumed central black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the powerful jets emanating from these objects. We provide a brief review of recent results in this exciting research domain and we discuss the opportunities for future work possible with the advent of new instrumental developments.