Demonstrations of black hole imaging algorithms

Here you can find animated and interactive versions of Figures 6 and 11 in Rodrigo Ochigame, Emilie Skulberg, and Jeroen van Dongen, “Coloring Black Holes: Epistemic and Aesthetic Choices in Astronomical Imaging,” to appear in Philosophy of Physics (2026).

In 2019, the first image of a black hole’s shadow based on observation was released by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT), featuring the supermassive black hole M87*. The paper cited above discusses the making of this image, which involved difficult choices about imaging algorithms and parameters. These figures allow the reader to directly examine some of those choices.

Open the animated and interactive figures here (external link).