A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has uncovered strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*.<\/p>\n
Seen in polarized light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy<\/a> 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*.<\/p>\n
The results appear in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n
To find out, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of light around M87* revealed that the magnetic fields around the black hole giant allowed it to launch powerful jets<\/a> of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, the new images have revealed that the same may be true for Sgr A*.<\/p>\n
But imaging black holes in polarized light isn’t as easy as putting on a pair of polarized sunglasses, and this is particularly true of Sgr A*, which is changing so fast that it doesn’t sit still for pictures. Imaging the supermassive<\/a> black hole requires sophisticated tools above and beyond those previously used for capturing M87*, a much steadier target. Dan Marrone, EHT co-principal investigator and a coauthor of the paper who is a professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory, and his team developed instruments that detected the polarized radio waves for this result.<\/p>\n
“With the capabilities of the Agility Project, we should be able to see material swirling around M87* and being ejected into its jets<\/a>,” Tilanus says.<\/p>\n
Planned expansions for the next decade will also enable high-fidelity movies, may reveal a hidden jet in Sgr A* and will allow astronomers to observe similar polarization features in other black holes. There are even plans in the works to extend the EHT into space, providing much sharper images of black holes and enabling much more powerful studies of black hole rotation and the mechanisms that power black hole jets<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Source: University of Arizona<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"