A recent discovery from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which includes researchers from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), has revealed the presence of powerful and well-organized magnetic fields swirling from the periphery of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
The findings were recently published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
In 2022, scientists unveiled the first-ever image of Sgr A*, located approximately 27,000 light-years away from Earth. This image showed that while the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is significantly smaller and less massive than M87’s, it bears a striking resemblance to it.
This discovery prompted scientists to investigate whether the two black holes shared common characteristics beyond their appearance. To explore this, the team decided to study Sgr A* in polarized light. Previous studies of M87* revealed that the magnetic fields surrounding the black hole enabled it to emit powerful jets of material into its surroundings. Building on this research, the new images have suggested that the same phenomenon may occur with Sgr A*.
“What we’re observing now is the presence of strong, twisted, and well-organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy,” explained Sara Issaoun, CfA NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Einstein Fellow, astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), and co-lead of the project.
2024-03-28 07:51:02
Original from phys.org