Plate Nº 86 · recorded November 12, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
Independent Method Confirms the First Black Hole Image of M87*
Four CSIRO scientists using machine learning have independently reproduced the 2019 EHT image of black hole M87*, confirming the ring is real. Their method appears in Nature.
By Marcus Bennett3 min read572 words
In brief
- A four-person CSIRO team independently validated the 2019 EHT image of black hole M87* using a new method called GenDIReCT.
- The findings were published in Nature in 2026 (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11241-9).
- The technique combines triplets of telescope data instead of standard pairs to eliminate calibration errors and biases.
- The recovered black hole matched the original EHT image almost identically in size and shape, with no prior assumptions built into the model.
A team of four researchers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has independently confirmed the 2019 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) image of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 — the first truly independent validation of one of the most recognized scientific images of the modern era. The method, called GenDIReCT, is published in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-11241-9, 2026).
The original EHT image, produced by hundreds of scientists, gave humanity its first direct view of a black hole's shadow. But it relied on complex image-processing choices, and astronomers have long debated how much such choices shape the final picture.
How do you photograph a doughnut on the moon?
CSIRO astronomer and lead author Dr. Samuel Lai described the scale of the challenge: "It is like standing in your backyard and trying to take a photo of a doughnut on the moon."
The EHT solves this by connecting radio telescopes across the globe — a technique called very long baseline interferometry — to mimic a single telescope the size of the planet. Project leader Dr. Nithyanandan Thyagarajan, also a CSIRO astronomer, explained the catch: "Creating an image this way is tricky and can introduce errors and biases that could lead to questions about the accuracy of the image. Our technique combines triplets rather than the standard pairs of telescope data to eliminate those errors."
In plain terms, the new analysis links data from three telescopes at a time instead of two, which cancels out calibration errors that pair-based methods cannot remove. Thyagarajan built the algorithms drawing on his earlier work solving similar problems in synrotron experiments. The team also applied machine learning and artificial intelligence to extract the black hole's structure and filter out atmospheric interference.
What did the new method find?
When the researchers ran their model on the original EHT dataset, they recovered a black hole almost identical in size and shape to the historic 2019 image. Crucially, the model carried no prior assumptions about what a black hole should look like.
"Our small Australian team developed advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to capture information about the black hole's structure and filter out atmospheric interference," Lai said. "Importantly, our model had no idea what a black hole looked like when we applied it to the M87 data. This is the first truly independent validation of the EHT image, an important step in the scientific process."
The approach reduces two persistent headaches in radio astronomy: calibration errors and subjective decisions made during image reconstruction, which have challenged the field for decades.
Why the ring is real
The findings strengthen confidence that the glowing ring surrounding M87's central black hole is a genuine astrophysical feature, not an artifact introduced when the image was pieced together from sparse telescope measurements.
Dr. Laurent Loinard, director of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, welcomed the result: "It is extremely gratifying to see that GenDIReCT, an elegant, entirely independent method, recovers the ring structure of M87* across several years, in excellent agreement with the EHT Collaboration's published results. Studies like this strengthen our confidence in what we have learned about black holes, and enrich the toolkit available to the whole community."
Beyond black holes
Thyagarajan noted that the technique has potential applications well outside astronomy, including medical imaging and earthquake mapping. Independent checks of landmark results remain the backbone of science — and this one passed.
via phys.org/rss-feed/ (Source)
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News editor covering regulation, policy and their impact on general science news at SciBeat.
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