Astronomers used AI to generate images of black hole discovered in 2019

• Researchers have released new and sharper images of what they believe the M87 black hole looks like.
• They developed a machine learning algorithm that provides a sharper image of the black hole first released in 2019.
• The algorithm used data from thousands of simulated black holes to fill in the data gaps that created the 2019 image.

A group of astronomers have created what they believe to be a more accurate depiction of the M87 black hole, created using artificial intelligence to fill in the gaps from a photograph first released by researchers in 2019. published.

The new image, published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could provide important information to future scientists studying the M87 black hole and others, researchers say.

The original image, first taken by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2017, was taken using a collection of powerful telescopes around the world focused on the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy. . The hole is located about 54 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.

But the world can’t be blanketed with telescopes to capture a sharper image, so researchers are looking at thousands of simulated images of what a black hole should look like based on decades of calculations. We have developed machine learning algorithms that can interpret data from captured images to fill in the gaps. Image from 2019, according to researchers.

“With our new machine learning technique, PRIMO, we were able to achieve the highest resolution of any current array,” said lead author Dr. Lia Medeiros in a statement. “Black holes cannot be studied up close, so the details in the images play a crucial role in understanding their behavior,” she said.

The researchers say the thin orange lines around the black hole are produced by the ejection of hot gases falling into the black hole, and the new image combines data captured by the Event Horizon Telescope and theoretical expectations. pointed out that they are still consistent with

They said that due to the precision of the technique when analyzing the M87 black hole, the researchers used it to capture by the Event Horizon Telescope, including Sagittarius A*, the central black hole of our own Milky Way galaxy. It may become possible to study other celestial bodies that have been identified.