Jan 22 2025
Observed and theoretical images of M87*. The left panels display EHT images of M87* from the 2018 and 2017 observation campaigns. The middle panels show example images from a general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation at two different times. The right panels present the same simulation snapshots, blurred to match the EHT's observational resolution. Credit: EHT Collaboration
Using observations from 2017 and 2018, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration has deepened our understanding of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 (M87*). This study opens a new window into multi-year analysis at horizon scales by leveraging a new simulation image library with more than 120,000 additional images compared to the last one. The team confirmed that M87*’s black hole rotational axis points away from Earth and demonstrated that turbulence within the accretion disk — rotating gas around the black hole — plays an important role in explaining the observed shift in the ring's brightness peak compared to 2017. The findings, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, mark a major step forward in unraveling the complex dynamics of black hole environments.
KOYAMA Shoko, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Graduate School of Science and Technology/College of Creative Studies, Niigata University
Journal: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Title: The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M87. II. Model comparisons and theoretical interpretations
doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451296
