Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have shed new light on the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*. A cutting-edge AI model suggests that this colossal black hole is spinning at nearly top speed, a finding that could significantly enhance our understanding of these enigmatic cosmic entities. This innovative model was developed using complex telescope data that had previously been dismissed due to its noisy nature, aiming to produce the most detailed images of black holes to date.
For decades, scientists have strived to observe and characterize Sagittarius A*, the massive black hole located at the heart of the Milky Way. In May 2022, researchers unveiled the first-ever image of this giant object, but many questions about its behavior remain unanswered. An international team of scientists has now sought to leverage the capabilities of AI to extract further information from data acquired by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
Unlike traditional telescopes, the EHT is a global network comprised of multiple linked instruments working in concert. This unique setup employs long electromagnetic waves—up to a millimeter in length—to measure the radius of photons surrounding black holes. However, the technique known as very long baseline interferometry is highly susceptible to interference from atmospheric water vapor, complicating the interpretation of the data collected by the instruments.
Michael Janssen, an astrophysicist at Radboud University in the Netherlands and co-author of the recent study, highlighted the difficulties researchers face when dealing with data from the Event Horizon Telescope. To address these challenges, Janssen and his team trained an AI model on EHT data that had previously been discarded due to excessive noise. This innovative approach allowed them to generate a new image of Sagittarius A*’s structure, revealing intriguing new features.
The results indicated that Sagittarius A* is not only spinning at near top speed, but its rotational axis appears to be directed towards Earth. These findings were published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics this month, marking a significant milestone in black hole research.
Determining the rotational speed of Sagittarius A* could provide vital insights into how radiation behaves around supermassive black holes and offer clues about the stability of the surrounding disk of matter. However, there remains skepticism within the scientific community regarding the accuracy of the new AI model. Reinhard Genzel, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and a Nobel Prize winner, expressed concerns about the data quality feeding into the model, suggesting it may have introduced biases that distort the results.
Looking ahead, Janssen and his team plan to refine their technique by applying it to the most recent EHT data, comparing their AI-generated outcomes with actual observational results. They hope that this ongoing analysis will enhance the model’s accuracy and improve future simulations, ultimately contributing to our understanding of the universe's most mysterious phenomena.
