> trying to imagine the action-movie-like intensity they were attributing to what was probably a predicted and fairly routine part of the project. As someone

> trying to imagine the action-movie-like intensity they were attributing to what was probably a predicted and fairly routine part of the project. As someone who is one step removed from the EHT project (several friends/colleagues of mine were up at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array [ALMA] assisting with the data-collection), these types of observations are not routine at all. This was part of a special campaign, coordinated between major observatories across the world. In order to ensure the data are useful, the precision of the calibration and timing is typically in excess of what the observatories do normally as part of their day-to-day operations. So while the observing campaign was set up well in advance, it is certainly not a routine part of operations. Regarding the title, it's a little bit click-bait-y, but it's also true that we don't know if there will be an image of the black hole (shadow). The data are not yet in their final form; even the cross-correlation between observatories (necessary to resolve the approximate size of the black hole's shadow) haven't yet been done. So it's entirely possible (though perhaps unlikely) the data that were acquired end up being unsuitable for making an image of the black hole (shadow).