Novel Deep Level Image State Ensemble Enhancement Method for M87 Imaging

Abstract

Standard spatial domain filters fail to adequately denoise and enhance the contrast of an image. These filters have drawbacks like oversmoothing, diminished texture, and lack of generative capabilities. This paper proposes a new method of image reconstruction, Image State Ensemble Enhancement (ISEE), based on our previous work, Image State Ensemble Decomposition (ISED). Deep level ISEE and ISED have been developed to produce a class of filters that can address these issues. Full-reference and no-reference quality metrics are used to assess the image, and the full reference metrics showed a marked improvement, while the no-reference metrics were often better than the test image. The test image was taken from the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), and ISEE reconstruction yielded improved structural detail over that of ISED and the original test image. Glare and noise were reduced in a narrow bandwidth, which led to the discovery of a vortex-shaped structure and an outburst in M87′s dusty infrared core. The vortex is located over M87′s visible core and black hole. This is verified with an SST and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) overlay, ISEE processed image. A counter-jet channel was also discovered, and it appears to be the path of the unobservable superluminal counter-jet.

Keywords

• astronomy
• black hole
• decomposition
• enhancement
• filter
• generative image