Scientists have captured the first ever image of the magnetic field surrounding the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole.
‘The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the center of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of Sagittarius A*. This image shows the polarized view of the Milky Way black hole.
“The fact that the magnetic field structure of M87* is so similar to that of Sgr A* is significant because it suggests that the physical processes that govern how a black hole feeds and launches a jet might be universal among supermassive black holes, despite differences in mass, size, and surrounding environment,” exclaims Mariafelicia De Laurentis, EHT Deputy Project Scientist and professor at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
Light is an oscillating electromagnetic wave. When light oscillates in a “preferred orientation,” as it sometimes does, it is polarized light. While polarized light is everywhere, human eyes can distinguish it from “normal” light. Although the EHT has imaged M87* in polarized light already, getting the new image of Sgr A* was significantly more challenging. Although Sgr A* is a much closer target — nearly 27,000 light-years away versus 53.5 million light-years — it is much less stable.
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