The emission from M87 has now been resolved into a bright, thin ring (orange colormap), arising from the infinite sequence of additional images of the emission region, and the more diffuse primary image, produced by the photons that come directly toward Earth (in blue contours). When viewed at the imaging resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope, the two components blur together. However, by separately searching for the thin ring, it is possible to sharpen the view of M87, isolating the fingerprint of strong gravity. Credit: Broderick et al. 2022, ApJ, 935, 61
In a vivid confirmation of theoretical prediction, scientists have discerned a sharp ring of light created by photons whipping around the back of a supermassive
Simulations predicted that there should be a thin, bright ring of light, hidden behind the glare of the diffuse orange glow, created by photons flung around the back of the black hole by its intense gravity.
Astrophysicist Avery Broderick led a team of researchers who used sophisticated imaging algorithms to essentially “remaster” the original imagery of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy.
“We turned off the searchlight to see the fireflies,” said Broderick, an associate faculty member at Perimeter Institute and the
By essentially “peeling off” elements of the imagery, says co-author Hung-Yi Pu, an assistant professor at National Taiwan Normal University, “the environment around the black hole can then be clearly revealed.”
To accomplish this, the team of researchers used a new imaging algorithm within the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) analysis framework THEMIS to isolate and extract the distinct ring feature from the original observations of the M87 black hole. They were also able to detect the telltale footprint of a powerful jet blasting outward from the black hole.
The scientists’ findings both confirm theoretical predictions and offer new ways to explore these mysterious objects, which are thought to reside at the heart of most galaxies.
Black holes were long considered unseeable until scientists coaxed them out of hiding with the EHT, a globe-spanning network of telescopes. Using eight observatories on four continents, all pointed at the same spot in the sky and linked together with nanosecond timing; the EHT researchers observed two black holes in 2017.
The EHT collaboration first unveiled the supermassive black hole in M87 in 2019. Then in 2022, it revealed the comparatively small but tumultuous black hole at the heart of our own
Reference: “The Photon Ring in M87*” by Avery E. Broderick, Dominic W. Pesce, Roman Gold, Paul Tiede, Hung-Yi Pu, Richard Anantua, Silke Britzen, Chiara Ceccobello, Koushik Chatterjee, Yongjun Chen, Nicholas S. Conroy, Geoffrey B. Crew, Alejandro Cruz-Osorio, Yuzhu Cui, Sheperd S. Doeleman, Razieh Emami, Joseph Farah, Christian M. Fromm, Peter Galison, Boris Georgiev, Luis C. Ho, David J. James, Britton Jeter, Alejandra Jimenez-Rosales, Jun Yi Koay, Carsten Kramer, Thomas P. Krichbaum, Sang-Sung Lee, Michael Lindqvist, Iván Martí-Vidal, Karl M. Menten, Yosuke Mizuno, James M. Moran, Monika Moscibrodzka, Antonios Nathanail, Joey Neilsen, Chunchong Ni, Jongho Park, Vincent Piétu, Luciano Rezzolla, Angelo Ricarte, Bart Ripperda, Lijing Shao, Fumie Tazaki, Kenji Toma, Pablo Torne, Jonathan Weintroub, Maciek Wielgus, Feng Yuan, Shan-Shan Zhao and Shuo Zhang, 16 August 2022, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c1d