New image shows magnetic fields orbiting black hole

A team of astronomers has released a new image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy. This image represents the most accurate version of the historic image captured in 2019, which shows polarized light that takes the form of magnetic field lines for this terrifying tycoon black hole.

News context

The Event Horizon Telescope made history on April 10, 2019, when it was released The first image ever taken of a black hole. The bright orange circle, located 53 million light years away, was imagined using eight radio observatories spread over four continents. With the precision of combining the capabilities of these observatories, the researchers were able to observe the center of the galaxy M87 and capture a glimpse of the incandescent light of the very hot vortex of gas and dust orbiting the event horizon. of supermassive. black hole (the point of no return at which the black hole’s gravity becomes so strong that neither light nor matter can escape.)

What is new in this picture?

The astronomers returned to the archives of the data that were used to mount the first image in Two new studies They are published in the Astrophysical Journal, And they analyzed the movement of polarized light around the object. Usually, light waves oscillate back and forth in several different directions, but these waves can polarize due to magnetic fields, making this vibration confined to a single linear plane. This light effectively deflects the magnetic field lines, resulting in a sharper image than the 2019 image, which looks more like a bun.

Why is the topic important?

Magnetic fields determine how matter moves and revolves around a black hole, which can influence how a black hole enlarges and develops. By studying the nature of these magnetic fields and their changes over time, scientists can better understand the behavior of the materials accumulated around the black hole and the factors that affect them, which will no doubt help us to obtain more information about The formation of supermassive black holes and their growth.