We all remember the incredible image of the supermassive black hole nestled in the heart of the M87 galaxy. An image made public in 2019. A blurred image. And the theory predicted that behind this diffuse glow could hide a thin ring of bright photons. Researchers have just revealed it.
Remember, in 2019, humanity was discovering, eyes amazed, the very first image of a supermassive black hole. The black hole at the center of the galaxy M87. And very quickly, some imagined being able to draw much more from this data than what they let see at first sight.
“We turned off the projector to see the fireflies. » This is how Avery Broderick, astrophysicist at the University of Waterloo (Canada), described in a communicatedthe work done by his crew. A way of “remaster” the image we all know. What purpose ? To observe, behind the glow of the diffuse orange glow and without waiting for the next generation of instruments, the thin ring of light brilliant predicted by theory. A ring formed by photons who, under theintense gravity effect that reigns in the region, take the tightest detour imaginable through the back of the black hole before arriving at us.
Inside the black hole
Because what the 2019 image showed was nothing but a mixture of astrophysical processes – gas and dust falling on the black hole – and gravitational phenomena – those that can give rise to a ring of photons. The better than theEvent Horizon Telescope (ETH) could do. But not the best astrophysicists could get from his data.
Based on their theoretical understanding of how supermassive black holes look, they came up with a new algorithm. And they somehow managed to break up the 2019 image to reveal the famous ring of photons that the simulations had predicted. Enough to produce at 7.13 ±0.39×109 times the mass of our Sunthe most accurate estimate to date of the mass of this supermassive black hole which nests in the heart of the galaxy M87. And observe, as a bonus, a jet of particles as close as possible to the black hole.
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