Chalmers tekniska högskola AB
Chalmers tekniska högskola AB
03/28/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 03/28/2024 06:51
Astronomers unveil spiraling magnetic fields around Milky Way’s central black hole
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A view of the Milky Way supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* in polarised light. The lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarisation, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole.
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has uncovered strong and organised magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
Seen in polarised light for the first time, this new view of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the centre 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*. The results were published March 27, 2024, in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Read more in the full press release from European Southern Observatory
Three astronomers at Chalmers are part of the EHT collaboration.
Anne-Kathrin Baczko
- Postdoc, Astronomy and Plasma Physics, Space, Earth and Environment
Contact
- [email protected]
- +46 31 772 13 47
- To personal page
Michael Lindqvist
- Senior Research Engineer, Onsala Space Observatory, Space, Earth and Environment
Contact
- [email protected]
- +46 31 772 55 08
- To personal page
John Conway
- Full Professor, Onsala Space Observatory, Space, Earth and Environment
Contact
- [email protected]
- +46 31 772 55 03
- To personal page
Updated 28 March 2024, 13:50Published 28 March 2024, 13:40
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