Scientists have enhanced the image of Messier 87’s black Hole through artificial intelligence.
An advanced machine-learning algorithm enhanced an iconic photo taken by the EHT Collaboration of an ultramassive black hole at the center of the Messier galaxy in 2019 using machine learning technology.
With computer models of black holes trained on computer simulation, the first ever image of a Black Hole now shows less of its characteristic fuzzy orange ring and has become thinner still, becoming an even thinner golden circle.
Understanding this phenomenon requires understanding its sources.
This image could be refined further to better comprehend the supermassive Black Hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87) as well as being applied to our Milky Way Galaxy’s supermassive Black Hole at its center.
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope unveiled an historic image of the supermassive Black Hole M87. Data had been collected over multiple days by EHT in 2017 to create this masterpiece of cosmic science, using seven individual telescopes connected globally as one giant network that covers Earth like no other instrument can.
Researchers, such as Lia Medeiros, an EHT collaborator and postdoctoral fellow in astronomy, used principal component interferometric modeling, or PRIMO,” to fill any holes or missing features within M87-year images.
Medeiros explained in his press release that due to our inability to study black holes directly, details in an image play an instrumental role in understanding their behavior. His team reduced its width using two factors as constraints to help with gravity tests and theoretical models.
The striking similarity between M87, located 55 million light-years from Earth, and the predictions made by Albert Einstein in his 1915 general theory astounded scientists.
