New and impressive images of the supermassive black hole located at the center of our galaxy show that its powerful magnetic field twists and rotates in a spiral pattern.
This is a never-before-seen view of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A*), the massive black hole in the Milky Way galaxy that consumes nearby light and matter.
The images suggest similarities in structure between this black hole and the black hole in the galaxy M87. Although the black hole in M87, which was imaged for the first time, is over 1,000 times larger than Sagittarius A*, both exhibit strong, organized magnetic fields.
This pattern hints that many, if not all, black holes may share common traits, according to the scientists who published their findings in the Astrophysics Journal Letter on Wednesday.
“We’ve discovered that strong, orderly magnetic fields are crucial in how black holes interact with surrounding gas and matter,” said study co-leader and NASA Hubble Fellowship Program co-author, Einstein Fellow Sarah Isaun, as stated in a press release.
Isaun worked with an international team of astronomers known as the Event Horizon Telescope to conduct the research. This team comprises over 300 scientists from 80 institutions worldwide.
This same collaboration captured the first direct visual evidence of Sagittarius A* in 2022 and also studied the M87 galaxy, which is located approximately 53 million light-years away from Earth.
The magnetic field around the massive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, known as M87*, is believed to play a vital role in its extraordinary behavior. Black holes emit powerful jets of electrons and other subatomic particles into space at nearly the speed of light.
Although no such bursts of activity have been observed from Sagittarius A*, the similarities between the two black holes suggest that hidden jets may still be detected. Researchers suggest this possibility in the new images.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
