Astronomers capture magnetic fields twirling around black hole
Left: Dan Marrone, Professor, Astronomer, Steward Observatory Right: CK Chan, Associate Astronomer, Steward Observatory Center: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which in 2022 presented the first image of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our Milky Way, has captured a new view of the massive object, this time in polarized light. For the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of the black hole. The lines mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the black hole's shadow.
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, which includes researchers and telescopes of the University of Arizona, has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*.
Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of a much more massive black hole, known as M87*, at the center of the M87 galaxy, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*. The results were published on March 27 in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.