The newly captured image shows a strong, twisted magnetic field at the edge of the black hole Sagittarius A* (Reuters)
A group of astronomers announced their discovery of a strong magnetic field that wraps in a spiral pattern around a super-massive black hole located in the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. The image that was announced yesterday, Wednesday, reveals unknown characteristics and characteristics of black holes, and the new image is the clearest findings by scientists so far.
The black hole is located in the region of Sagittarius A*, centered in the middle of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is the second image taken of the celestial body after photographing the black hole located in the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy, 55 million light-years away, in 2019.
According to scientists' estimates, the mass of the Sagittarius A* black hole is about 4 million times the mass of the Sun, and it is surrounded by a hot gas vortex. Despite its huge mass, the distance that separates it from Earth, which is 27,000 light-years, makes it appear in the planet's sky like the size of a sandwich on the moon's surface.
Research recently published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) indicates the effects of polarized light around a black hole for the first time.
Polarized light refers to light waves that oscillate in one specific direction. In the case of unpolarized light - such as incoming sunlight or bright light from a lamp - the waves oscillate in all directions perpendicular to the direction of propagation, but when the light is polarized, the oscillations of the waves begin to line up in a specific direction, and this can be seen during the reflection of light from water surfaces, for example. .
Astronomers use polarized light to detect magnetic fields in space, and the lines in the captured image show the directions of polarization associated with the structure of the magnetic field around the black hole.
Dr. Sarah Ison, the main participant in the research, indicated that the spiral pattern observed around the black hole indicates the presence of strong and regular magnetic fields revolving around it. This means that the magnetic fields show a spiral formation similar to the pattern of vortexes.
Comparison of two black holes
The black hole in the middle of the Messier 87 galaxy is about 1,000 times larger than the black hole Sagittarius A*. This means that the hole in the Messier 87 galaxy rotates slower, making it easier to photograph.
It did not take long for an image of the black hole Messier 87 to be published with polarized light, while it took an additional three years to publish an image of the black hole A* with polarized light.
A picture of the black hole Messier 87 (left) and another in the Sagittarius A* region after the process of polarizing light, and the degree of similarity in their magnetic fields is clearly visible (Event Horizon Telescope)
Despite the discrepancy in sizes between the two black holes, the new image shows that the structure of the magnetic fields is remarkably similar, indicating that strong magnetic fields are a fundamental feature of all supermassive black holes.
Previous studies on the black hole in the Messier 87 galaxy revealed that the magnetic field surrounding it strongly pushes energy and matter to distances outside the scope of the galaxy, as previously taken images show, while astronomers were unable to capture images similar to these intense currents resulting from the black hole’s magnetic field in the Darb Galaxy. Milky Way.
However, the close similarities between the two black holes suggest the existence of similar currents, but we have not yet had the opportunity to observe or see them.
Source: Al Jazeera + websites