Black hole image enhanced with machine learning AI.

The iconic image of the M87 supermassive black hole has been given a makeover using a new machine learning technique called PRIMO (principal-component interferometric modeling). The technique compensates for missing information in the original 2017 data, resulting in a sharper image with greater detail of the central dark region. PRIMO could also improve the resolution of other EHT observations, including the first image of the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. The higher resolution will help astronomers more accurately peg the mass of the black hole and enable more robust tests of gravity.