Astronomers recently found something fascinating around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. They discovered a strong and organized magnetic field twisting in a spiral pattern. This magnetic field, found around the black hole called Sagittarius Aor Sgr A, is similar to the one around another black hole called M87, located in a nearby galaxy.
 |
| (Image: Google) |
This discovery suggests that strong magnetic fields might be common among black holes. The magnetic field around M87* helps it shoot powerful jets of material into space. Although we haven't seen such jets around Sgr A* yet, this new finding hints that they might exist, and we might spot them soon.
A new image released by researchers shows the magnetic field structure around Sgr A* for the first time. This image was made using polarized light, which comes from tiny particles called electrons moving around magnetic field lines. Sgr A* is a supermassive black hole with a mass 4 million times that of our sun, located about 26,000 light-years away from Earth.
Astronomer Sara Issaoun, who led the research, believes that magnetic fields play a crucial role in how black holes interact with the matter around them. The organized spiral pattern of the magnetic field around Sgr A* suggests that this black hole can produce efficient jets that shoot out into the galaxy.
The discovery was made using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of observatories. This telescope allows scientists to see things near black holes, which are incredibly hard to observe due to their immense gravity.
Black holes have an event horizon, a point of no return where everything, including light, gets pulled in. By studying polarized light from hot gas near black holes, astronomers can learn more about the magnetic fields and the processes happening as a black hole feeds.
The M87 black hole, much larger than Sgr A*, also shoots out powerful jets of hot gas. Evidence for similar jets from Sgr A* is growing, according to the researchers.
