The photo of the black hole in the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, named M87*, was published in 2019. Thanks to the use of artificial intelligence, this image has now been improved and has become even sharper and more precise.
An initial image of a huge black hole nestled in the center of the galaxy messier 8755 million light-years from Earth, was presented in 2019. The team of American researchers led by Lia Medeiros from the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) published a study in Astrophysical Journal Letters presenting a “new reconstruction” of this image, thanks to the international collaboration of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
An AI has refined the image of the black hole M87*
The researchers used a model called PRIMO (principal-component interferometric modeling) to clean up the image. This is what achieves the maximum definition, according to scientists from NoirLab (research and development center).
« Thanks to our new machine learning technique, PRIMO, we were able to achieve the maximum resolution of the current (telescope) array,” explains the main author of the work, the astrophysicist Lia Medeiros.
Best Black Hole Image: What Consequences?
The new image is sharper because it contains more data, which is a major step forward for an object 55 million light-years away. According to the study authors, this has important implications for measuring the mass of M87’s central black hole. The improvement of the image makes it possible to observe the outline of the black hole more clearly, which is essential for understanding its behavior.
« Since we cannot study black holes up close, the details of an image play a vital role in our ability to understand their behavior. The width of the ring in the image is now smaller by a factor of two, which will be a powerful constraint for our theoretical models and gravity tests. », the declared Lia Medeiros.
Although it may seem paradoxical, a black hole is sharper by being darker. The object itself is what is actually seen in the center, as it is surrounded by an orange halo made up of rotating swallowed gas.
AI-enhanced image: Unreliable illustration?
The simulations used to interpret the image of M87* are based on theoretical models, because scientists do not yet know exactly the nature of black holes and need to test the laws of physics near them to better understand them. Heino Falcke, a professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics, calls the result an “educated guess” rather than an image. He thus emphasizes that the representation obtained by this method is based on hypotheses and theoretical models rather than on direct observation.
Nevertheless, Lia Medeiros specifies that M87* is only the beginning. PRIMO will probably be used on other astronomical shots, such as the black hole in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
