First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Imaging of the Galactic Center Supermassive Black Hole
Journal article, 2022
We present the first event-horizon-scale images and spatiotemporal analysis of Sgr A* taken with the Event Horizon Telescope in 2017 April at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. Imaging of Sgr A* has been conducted through surveys over a wide range of imaging assumptions using the classical CLEAN algorithm, regularized maximum likelihood methods, and a Bayesian posterior sampling method. Different prescriptions have been used to account for scattering effects by the interstellar medium toward the Galactic center. Mitigation of the rapid intraday variability that characterizes Sgr A* has been carried out through the addition of a "variability noise budget" in the observed visibilities, facilitating the reconstruction of static full-track images. Our static reconstructions of Sgr A* can be clustered into four representative morphologies that correspond to ring images with three different azimuthal brightness distributions and a small cluster that contains diverse nonring morphologies. Based on our extensive analysis of the effects of sparse (u, v)-coverage, source variability, and interstellar scattering, as well as studies of simulated visibility data, we conclude that the Event Horizon Telescope Sgr A* data show compelling evidence for an image that is dominated by a bright ring of emission with a ring diameter of similar to 50 mu as, consistent with the expected "shadow" of a 4 x 10(6) M (circle dot) black hole in the Galactic center located at a distance of 8 kpc.
Author
Kazunori Akiyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Antxon Alberdi
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Walter Alef
Max Planck Society
Juan Carlos Algaba
University of Malaya
Richard Anantua
University of Texas at San Antonio
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Keiichi Asada
Academia Sinica
Rebecca Azulay
Max Planck Society
Universitat de Valencia
Uwe Bach
Max Planck Society
Anne-Kathrin Baczko
Max Planck Society
David Ball
University of Arizona
Mislav Balokovic
Yale University
John Barrett
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Michi Baubock
University of Illinois
Bradford A. Benson
University of Chicago
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Dan Bintley
East Asian Observatory
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Lindy Blackburn
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Raymond Blundell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Katherine L. Bouman
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Geoffrey C. Bower
Academia Sinica
University of Hawaii
Hope Boyce
McGill University
Michael Bremer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Christiaan D. Brinkerink
Radboud University
Roger Brissenden
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Silke Britzen
Max Planck Society
Avery E. Broderick
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Dominique Broguiere
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas Bronzwaer
Radboud University
Sandra Bustamante
University of Massachusetts
Do-Young Byun
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
John E. Carlstrom
University of Chicago
Chiara Ceccobello
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Andrew Chael
Princeton University
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Chi-kwan Chan
University of Arizona
Koushik Chatterjee
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Shami Chatterjee
Cornell University
Ming-Tang Chen
Academia Sinica
Yongjun Chen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaopeng Cheng
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Ilje Cho
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Pierre Christian
Fairfield University
Nicholas S. Conroy
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
University of Illinois
John Conway
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
James M. Cordes
Cornell University
Thomas M. Crawford
University of Chicago
Geoffrey B. Crew
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Alejandro Cruz-Osorio
Goethe University Frankfurt
Yuzhu Cui
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Jordy Davelaar
Radboud University
Flatiron Institute
Columbia University
Mariafelicia De Laurentis
National Institute for Nuclear Physics
University of Naples Federico II
Goethe University Frankfurt
Roger Deane
University of Witwatersrand
University of Pretoria
Rhodes University
Jessica Dempsey
East Asian Observatory
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Gregory Desvignes
Paris Descartes University
Max Planck Society
Jason Dexter
University of Colorado at Boulder
Vedant Dhruv
University of Illinois
Sheperd S. Doeleman
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Sean Dougal
University of Arizona
Sergio A. Dzib
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Max Planck Society
Ralph P. Eatough
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max Planck Society
Razieh Emami
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Heino Falcke
Radboud University
Joseph Farah
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
University of California at Santa Barbara
Vincent L. Fish
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ed Fomalont
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
H. Alyson Ford
University of Arizona
Raquel Fraga-Encinas
Radboud University
William T. Freeman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Google Inc.
Per Friberg
East Asian Observatory
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Christian M. Fromm
Goethe University Frankfurt
Max Planck Society
University of Würzburg
Antonio Fuentes
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Peter Galison
Harvard University
Charles F. Gammie
University of Illinois
Roberto Garcia
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Olivier Gentaz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Boris Georgiev
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Ciriaco Goddi
University of Cagliari
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Roman Gold
University of Southern Denmark
Goethe University Frankfurt
Gomez-Ruiz
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
National Council for Science and Technology Mexico
Jose L. Gomez
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Minfeng Gu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Mark Gurwell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Kazuhiro Hada
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Daryl Haggard
McGill University
Kari Haworth
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Michael H. Hecht
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ronald Hesper
University of Groningen
Dirk Heumann
University of Arizona
Luis C. Ho
Beijing University of Technology
Paul Ho
East Asian Observatory
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Academia Sinica
Mareki Honma
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
University of Tokyo
Chih-Wei L. Huang
Academia Sinica
Lei Huang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
David H. Hughes
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Shiro Ikeda
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics
University of Tokyo
C. M. Violette Impellizzeri
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Leiden University
Makoto Inoue
Academia Sinica
Sara Issaoun
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
David J. James
ASTRAVEO
Buell T. Jannuzi
University of Arizona
Michael Janssen
Max Planck Society
Britton Jeter
Academia Sinica
Wu Jiang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alejandra Jimenez-Rosales
Radboud University
Michael D. Johnson
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Svetlana Jorstad
Boston University
Joshi
University of Illinois
Taehyun Jung
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Mansour Karami
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Ramesh Karuppusamy
Max Planck Society
Tomohisa Kawashima
University of Tokyo
Garrett K. Keating
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Mark Kettenis
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Dong-Jin Kim
Max Planck Society
Jae-Young Kim
Max Planck Society
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Kyungpook National University
Jongsoo Kim
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Junhan Kim
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
University of Arizona
Motoki Kino
Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Jun Yi Koay
Academia Sinica
Prashant Kocherlakota
Goethe University Frankfurt
Yutaro Kofuji
University of Tokyo
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Patrick M. Koch
Academia Sinica
Shoko Koyama
Academia Sinica
Niigata University
Carsten Kramer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Michael Kramer
Max Planck Society
Thomas P. Krichbaum
Max Planck Society
Cheng-Yu Kuo
National Sun Yat-Sen University
Academia Sinica
Noemi La Bella
Radboud University
Tod R. Lauer
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Daeyoung Lee
University of Illinois
Sang-Sung Lee
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Po Kin Leung
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Aviad Levis
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Zhiyuan Li
Nanjing University
Rocco Lico
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Greg Lindahl
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Mikhail Lisakov
Max Planck Society
Jun Liu
Max Planck Society
Kuo Liu
Max Planck Society
Elisabetta Liuzzo
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Italian ALMA Regional Centre
Wen-Ping Lo
Academia Sinica
National Taiwan University
Andrei P. Lobanov
Max Planck Society
Laurent Loinard
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Colin J. Lonsdale
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ru-Sen Lu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max Planck Society
Jirong Mao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nicola Marchili
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Max Planck Society
Italian ALMA Regional Centre
Sera Markoff
University of Amsterdam
Daniel P. Marrone
University of Arizona
Alan P. Marscher
Boston University
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Universitat de Valencia
Satoki Matsushita
Academia Sinica
Lynn D. Matthews
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Lia Medeiros
University of Arizona
Institute for Advanced Study
Karl M. Menten
Max Planck Society
Daniel Michalik
University of Chicago
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
Izumi Mizuno
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
East Asian Observatory
Yosuke Mizuno
Goethe University Frankfurt
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
James M. Moran
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Kotaro Moriyama
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Goethe University Frankfurt
Monika Moscibrodzka
Radboud University
Cornelia Mueller
Radboud University
Max Planck Society
Alejandro Mus
Universitat de Valencia
Gibwa Musoke
University of Amsterdam
Radboud University
Ioannis Myserlis
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Andrew Nadolski
University of Illinois
Hiroshi Nagai
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Neil M. Nagar
University of Concepcion
Masanori Nakamura
National Institute of Technology, Hachinohe College
Academia Sinica
Ramesh Narayan
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Gopal Narayanan
University of Massachusetts
Iniyan Natarajan
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)
University of Witwatersrand
Antonios Nathanail
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Goethe University Frankfurt
Santiago Navarro Fuentes
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Joseph Neilsen
Villanova University
Roberto Neri
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Chunchong Ni
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Aristeidis Noutsos
Max Planck Society
Michael A. Nowak
Washington University in St. Louis
Junghwan Oh
Sejong University
Hiroki Okino
University of Tokyo
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hector Olivares
Radboud University
Gisela N. Ortiz-Leon
Max Planck Society
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Tomoaki Oyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Feryal Ozel
University of Arizona
Daniel C. M. Palumbo
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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Max Planck Society
Jongho Park
Academia Sinica
Harriet Parsons
East Asian Observatory
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Nimesh Patel
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ue-Li Pen
University of Toronto
Academia Sinica
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Dominic W. Pesce
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Vincent Pietu
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Richard Plambeck
University of California at Berkeley
Aleksandar PopStefanija
University of Massachusetts
Oliver Porth
Goethe University Frankfurt
University of Amsterdam
Felix M. Potzl
University College Cork
Max Planck Society
Ben Prather
University of Illinois
Jorge A. Preciado-Lopez
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Dimitrios Psaltis
University of Arizona
Hung-Yi Pu
Academia Sinica
National Taiwan Normal University
Venkatessh Ramakrishnan
Aalto University
University of Turku
University of Concepcion
Ramprasad Rao
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Mark G. Rawlings
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
East Asian Observatory
Gemini Observatory North
Alexander W. Raymond
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Luciano Rezzolla
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
Goethe University Frankfurt
Trinity College Dublin
Angelo Ricarte
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Bart Ripperda
Princeton University
Flatiron Institute
Freek Roelofs
Radboud University
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Alan Rogers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Eduardo Ros
Max Planck Society
Cristina Romero-Canizales
Academia Sinica
Arash Roshanineshat
University of Arizona
Helge Rottmann
Max Planck Society
Alan L. Roy
Max Planck Society
Ignacio Ruiz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Chet Ruszczyk
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kazi L. J. Rygl
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Italian ALMA Regional Centre
Salvador Sanchez
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
David Sanchez-Arguelles
National Council for Science and Technology Mexico
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Miguel Sanchez-Portal
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Mahito Sasada
Hiroshima University
Tokyo Institute of Technology
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Kaushik Satapathy
University of Arizona
Tuomas Savolainen
Aalto University
Max Planck Society
F. Peter Schloerb
University of Massachusetts
Jonathan Schonfeld
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Karl-Friedrich Schuster
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Lijing Shao
Beijing University of Technology
Max Planck Society
Zhiqiang Shen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Des Small
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Bong Won Sohn
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Yonsei University
Jason SooHoo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kamal Souccar
University of Massachusetts
Fumie Tazaki
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Alexandra J. Tetarenko
Texas Tech University at Lubbock
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Paul Tiede
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Remo P. J. Tilanus
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
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Radboud University
University of Arizona
Michael Titus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Pablo Torne
Max Planck Society
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Efthalia Traianou
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Max Planck Society
Tyler Trent
University of Arizona
Sascha Trippe
Seoul National University
Matthew Turk
University of Illinois
Ilse van Bemmel
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Huib Jan van Langevelde
University of New Mexico
Leiden University
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Daniel R. van Rossum
Radboud University
Jesse Vos
Radboud University
Jan Wagner
Max Planck Society
Derek Ward-Thompson
University of Central Lancashire
John Wardle
Brandeis University
Jonathan Weintroub
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Norbert Wex
Max Planck Society
Robert Wharton
Max Planck Society
Maciek Wielgus
Max Planck Society
Kaj Wiik
University of Turku
Gunther Witzel
Max Planck Society
Michael F. Wondrak
Radboud University
George N. Wong
Institute for Advanced Study
Princeton University
Qingwen Wu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Paul Yamaguchi
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Doosoo Yoon
University of Amsterdam
Andre Young
Radboud University
Ken Young
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ziri Younsi
Goethe University Frankfurt
University College London (UCL)
Feng Yuan
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ye-Fei Yuan
University of Science and Technology of China
J. Anton Zensus
Max Planck Society
Shuo Zhang
Bard College
Guang-Yao Zhao
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Shan-Shan Zhao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 930 2 L14Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Computer Vision and Robotics (Autonomous Systems)
Medical Image Processing
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ac6429