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Radio Interferometry Image Reconstruction Lab (2D)

2D canvas simulator of a radio-telescope array building sparse Fourier-plane (uv) coverage as the Earth rotates, forming a dirty beam and dirty image, then reconstructing a sharp sky image live with the Högbom CLEAN algorithm — the technique behind the Event Horizon Telescope black-hole picture.

Rendering & Computer Graphics2DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Every dramatic scientific image built from a radio-telescope array — most famously the Event Horizon Telescope's picture of a black hole's shadow — is not a photograph but a mathematical reconstruction from sparse Fourier-plane measurements. This 2D canvas lab simulates a small interferometric array: as Earth rotates, each antenna pair sweeps an elliptical track through the uv (spatial-frequency) plane, visibility samples accumulate live, and a dirty beam and dirty image form from that incomplete coverage. Once synthesis completes, the Högbom CLEAN algorithm runs iteratively in view, subtracting scaled copies of the dirty beam from the brightest residual peaks until a sharp reconstruction of the true sky — a black-hole-shadow-like ring with an asymmetric bright knot — emerges from the noise.

⚙ Under the hood

A 2D canvas simulator of a radio-telescope array building sparse Fourier-plane (uv) coverage as Earth rotates, forming a dirty beam and dirty image, then reconstructing a sharp sky image live with the Högbom CLEAN algorithm — the real technique behind the Event Horizon Telescope black-hole picture.

radio astronomyinterferometryimage reconstructionCLEAN algorithmFourier transformscientific visualization2d

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install