New photo of Milky Way’s black hole shows spiral magnetic fields

When scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) first revealed the 2022 image of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the black hole at the center of our galaxy, the first impression was that the object was equivalent to four black holes. million suns looked very similar to M87, the first black hole ever photographed. although this is at least a thousand times larger and larger than “our”.

Astronomers themselves began to wonder Whether there will be some common features other than appearance between the two light-devouring giants.. To do this, they decided to conduct a special study of Sgr A* using polarized light. This means that the collaboration’s eight telescopes are equipped with filters to observe the radiation emitted by the object in different directions of light vibration.

While it may seem simple to filter the light from a black hole so that only one direction of the vibration passes through, this is a very difficult task since the ionized gas orbits the object for only minutes. As particles of this plasma orbit around magnetic field lines, these structures change rapidly as radio waves are recorded.

How did the “new photo” of the Milky Way’s black hole emerge?

Research results published in two studies in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Revealed that Sgr A* has a spiral structure with strong magnetic fields around it. When first observed in polarized light, image of black hole While not as powerful as its “big brother”, it proved to be very similar to that of M87* despite the presence of a plasma jet.

Despite the stark size differences between the two observed black holes, the physics surrounding these giants appears to scale so well that the authors say heralds a tool that can interpret the behavior of these cosmic monsters, even providing clues as to what they are. to call.

“With the example of two black holes with very different masses and very different host galaxies, it is important to determine what they agree on and what they disagree on,” said co-author Mariafelicia De Laurentis, a physicist at the Federico II University of Naples. in Italy.

Applications of polarized imaging of the Sgr A* black hole

Paul Tiede, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), managed to obtain a polarized image of Sgr A*. In addition to being exciting, it also raises the challenge on the dynamics of the magnetic fields surrounding these massive bodies. objects.

The authors’ expectation is that with the development of technology, more secrets of black holes may be revealed. Tiede admits they didn’t expect to obtain the image because their model predicted “extremely turbulent magnetic fields,” but Sgr A* turned out to be “much calmer.”

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