Astronomers have announced that they have detected a strong magnetic field twisted in a spiral pattern around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, revealing previously unknown qualities of the hugely powerful object lurking at the center of our galaxy.
The structure of the magnetic field, emanating from the edge of the black hole called Sagittarius A * or Sgr A *, closely resembles that surrounding the only other larger black hole ever imagined, which was at the center of a nearby galaxy, called Messier 87 or M87 , the researchers said, according to Reuters.
This indicates that strong magnetic fields may be a common feature of black holes, they added. The magnetic field around the black hole M87, called M87 *, allows it to launch powerful jets of material into space, the researchers said.
This indicates that although such jets have not been detected around Sgr A * to date, they may exist – and may be observable in the near future, they added.
Researchers have released a new image for the first time, showing the environment around Sgr A * in polarized light, revealing the structure of the magnetic field. Polarized light comes from subatomic particles called electrons, which spin around magnetic field lines.
Sgr A * has 4 million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years – the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km) – from Earth .
“For some time, we have believed that magnetic fields play a key role in how black holes feed and eject matter in powerful jets,” said astronomer Sara Issaoun of the Center for Astrophysics – Harvard and Smithsonian and co-leader of the research.
“This new image, along with a strikingly similar polarization structure seen in the much larger and more powerful black hole M87 *, shows that strong, ordered magnetic fields are central to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them Issaoun added.
Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with such strong gravity that not even light can escape, making viewing them extremely challenging.
