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Two images of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way, simulated with the University of Arizona's El Gato computer cluster.

UA astrophysicists use computer gaming hardware on steroids to simulate black hole images

What would a black hole look like, if you could take a picture of it? A group of University of Arizona computational astrophysicists (Steward Postdoc Chi-Kwan Chan and Steward Professors Feryal Ozel and Dimitrios Psaltis)  harnessed the power of the El Gato GPU computer cluster to simulate fascinating detailed images of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way in preparation for upcoming observations. Some of these observations will be taken with the Event Horizon Telescope, with participation of the Arizona Radio Observatory and South Pole Telescope, among others. Both telescopes will have special receivers made by Steward Professor Dan Marrone and his group. A link to the UA News press release can be found HERE

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