The Milky Way's black hole reveals strong magnetic fields

Scientists at the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) have discovered strong, organized magnetic fields billowing from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), at the center of the Milky Way.

This new image of the organism appears in polarized light for the first time “Lurking monster” At the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, it reveals a magnetic field structure that is strikingly similar to that of the black hole in the galaxy M87, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes.

The research, with Spanish participation, was published in two articles in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, led by the EHT collaboration, in which more than 300 researchers participate.

2022, a key year

In 2022, scientists, in press conferences around the world, released the first image of Sagittarius A.

Despite the supermassive black hole milky way, which is about 27 thousand light-years from Earth, is smaller in size and more than a thousand times less massive than M87 (first image). Observations revealed that the two are quite similar. This made the scientific community wonder whether they both shared traits, regardless of their appearance.

To find out, the team decided to study Sagittarius A in polarized light, describes a statement from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Previous studies of light around M87 revealed that magnetic fields in its surroundings allowed the black hole to shoot powerful jets of material back into the surrounding environment. Building on this work, new images reveal that the same thing may be happening at Sgr A.

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“Strong” magnetic fields.

“What we see now is that there are strong, spiral-shaped and organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way,” summarizes Sarah Isson, from the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA).

The similarity may also point to a hidden jet in Sagittarius A. Although scientists have imaged a very clear jet in M87, they have not yet found it in Sagittarius A*.

Light is an oscillating or moving electromagnetic wave that allows objects to be seen. Sometimes the light oscillates “preferred orientation”It is called “polarized”, and although it surrounds us, to the human eye it is indistinguishable from “ordinary” light, explains the European Southern Observatory.

“By imaging polarized light from nearby hot, glowing gas black holes“We directly infer the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that connect the gas flow and the material it feeds on, and in turn repel,” says Angelo Ricart of Harvard University.

He wouldn't stay still for the photo

But photographing black holes with polarized light isn't as easy as wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses, and that's especially true for Sgr A, which changes too quickly to stay still when you take pictures. Sophisticated instruments beyond those previously used are required to capture the more stable M87.

Jose L. says: Gomez, vice president of the company: “Images of black holes in polarized light reveal much more than what can be seen with the naked eye, which is like finally reading the story inside a book after only seeing its cover.” EHT Scientific Council and Head of the EHT Group at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA).

However, because SgrA* is constantly moving, obtaining the non-polarized image was a “huge challenge.”

“Therefore, we were relieved to see that it was possible to obtain a polarized image, allowing us to take a look for the first time at the magnetic fields orbiting the central black hole of our galaxy,” Gomez adds.

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A virtual Earth-sized telescope

To observe the black hole in the Milky Way, the collaboration brought together eight telescopes around the world to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope, the EHT. ALMA, of which ESO is a partner, and APEX, both in northern Chile, were part of the network that carried out the observations carried out in 2017.

Each year, the images improve as the EHT adds new telescopes, a larger bandwidth, and new observing frequencies.

One of the EHT's most important developments is the integration of a new antenna at the Teide Observatory, in the Canary Islands, a project led by the IAA. This new antenna will significantly improve the sensitivity of the EHT, which is crucial for producing the first black hole movies, according to this institute.

(With information from EFE)

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