Iconic first image of black hole holds up to scrutiny
An independent team says the 2019 image still matches a bright ring and dark shadow, despite earlier claims that it was reconstruction noise.
- On Thursday, researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation published findings in Nature using a new algorithm called GenDIReCT to confirm the iconic 2019 Event Horizon Telescope image of the supermassive black hole in galaxy M87.
- Although the 2019 image became a globally recognized scientific icon, some researchers questioned its validity, arguing the ring structure might be an artifact of the original team's complex image-reconstruction techniques.
- To ensure independence, researchers trained their model on terrestrial images like cats and cars, avoiding prior expectations, while utilizing 'closure invariants' to combine triplets of telescope measurements and eliminate atmospheric errors.
- EHT Collaboration director Laurent Loinard welcomed the verification, stating it is 'extremely gratifying' to see an independent method recover the M87 ring structure, strengthening global confidence in black hole research.
- This powerful algorithm could extend beyond astronomy into seismography and medical imaging, while confirming predictions from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity regarding how black holes distort space-time.
17 Articles
17 Articles
In 2019, the international collaborative project ‘Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)’ unveiled the first actual image of a black hole. It appeared as a ring glowing yellow in the pitch-black darkness, much like the One Ring from the movie ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ Some researchers did not believe this, claiming that the ring shape was an artificial phenomenon caused by image reconstruction techniques. Now, through a completely independent reanalysis, …
The Conversation
New Space EconomyIs this iconic black hole image accurate? New study delivers an independent result
EHT CollaborationOn April 10 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration revealed the first picture of a black hole. The object is at the centre of a galaxy known as M87, about 55 million light-years away. The iconic ring structure instantly became one of the most recognised scientific images of the modern era. It showed a black hole “shadow” outlined by light from swirling hot gas – just as predicted by Einstein’s theory of general re…
The Register
Scientists check their work and confirm it with update on iconic black hole image
And find they were right all along
New reconstruction of the image of the black hole M87*, made from data collected on April 11, 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project. S. Lai, N. Thyagarajan, O. I. Wong and F. Diakogiannis/CSIRO A new analysis confirmed that the ring format seen in the first and historical image of a black hole, released in 2019, was not simply the result of how the data were processed by scientists of the time. Recently, researchers returned to the M…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
