By Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com
17:00 27 Mar 2024, updated 17:12 27 Mar 2024
- Scientists captured a new image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*
- The team observed strong magnetic fields around the edge of the black hole
- READ MORE: Astronomers revealed first ever image of Sagittarius A* in 2022
Scientists have released an image of the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way, proclaiming it a ‘milestone in astronomy.’
More than 300 researchers from Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America created the stunning photo using the Event Horizon Telescope that revealed electric orange swirls around the edge of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).
Sgr A* has been previously seen in photos, but the lasted is the first to use polarized light that revealed its magnetic fields – and astronomers said it resembles the Eye of Sauron from the film adaption of JRR Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings
The team used a specific filter to view the black hole’s magnetic fields, allowing them to observe strong magnetic fields twisting around surrounding gas and matter.
The twisting structure of Sgr A* is similar that of the first and only other black hole to be photographed, Messier 87 (M87), which has suggested that all black holes posses the strong magnetic fields – a concept that challenges previous studies.
Harvard’s Sara Issaoun, co-lead of the project, said: ‘What we’re seeing now is that there are strong, twisted, and organized magnetic fields near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
‘Along with Sgr A* having a strikingly similar polarization structure to that seen in the much larger and more powerful M87* black hole, we’ve learned that strong and ordered magnetic fields are critical to how black holes interact with the gas and matter around them.’
Almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center – and ours happens to be Sgr A*.
The monster possesses four million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years – the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles – from Earth.
The first image of Sgr A* showed it like a glowing red and orange colored donut hanging in the blackness of space – but the structure was also too blurry to make out details.
But the lasted work produced a stunning photograph thanks to polarized light.
‘Light is an oscillating, or moving, electromagnetic wave that allows us to see objects,’ astronomers shared in the announcement.
Sometimes, light oscillates in a preferred orientation, and we call it ‘polarized.’ Although polarized light surrounds us, to human eyes it is indistinguishable from ‘normal’ light.
‘In the plasma around these black holes, particles whirling around magnetic field lines impart a polarization pattern perpendicular to the field.’
This allows astronomers to see in increasingly vivid detail what’s happening in black hole regions and map their magnetic field lines.
Harvard Black Hole Initiative Fellow and project co-lead Angelo Ricarte said: ‘By imaging polarized light from hot glowing gas near black holes, we are directly inferring the structure and strength of the magnetic fields that thread the flow of gas and matter that the black hole feeds on and ejects.
‘Polarized light teaches us a lot more about the astrophysics, the properties of the gas, and mechanisms that take place as a black hole feeds.’
To observe Sgr A*, the collaboration linked eight telescopes around the world to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope, which what is know as the Event Horizon Telescope.
While the team had a powerful telescope, imagine a black hole in polarized light is not always an easy task.
They noted that Sgr A* was particularly challenged because it changes so fast – ‘it does not sit still for pictures,’ researchers said.
M87, however, was a much steadier black hole, which is likely why astronomers chose it as the first target ever to be photographed.
EHT Project Scientist Geoffrey Bower said, ‘Making a polarized image is like opening the book after you have only seen the cover.
‘Because Sgr A* moves around while we try to take its picture, it was difficult to construct even the unpolarized image,’ adding that the first image was an average of multiple images due to Sgr A*’s movement.
‘We were relieved that polarized imaging was even possible. Some models were far too scrambled and turbulent to construct a polarized image, but nature was not so cruel.’
Scientists said having images of both supermassive black holes in polarized light will open up new methods in comparing and contrasting black holes of different sizes and masses.
And as technology improves, the images are likely to reveal even more secrets of black holes and their similarities or differences.
Mariafelicia De Laurentis, EHT Deputy Project Scientist and professor at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, said, ‘The fact that the magnetic field structure of M87* is so similar to that of Sgr A* is significant because it suggests that the physical processes that govern how a black hole feeds and launches a jet might be universal among supermassive black holes, despite differences in mass, size, and surrounding environment.
‘This result allows us to refine our theoretical models and simulations, improving our understanding of how matter is influenced near the event horizon of a black hole.’
The M87 black hole has a mass six billion times that of our sun and inhabits the center of a giant elliptical galaxy.
It ejects a powerful jet of plasma – gas so hot that some or all its atoms are split into the subatomic particles electrons and ions – visible at all wavelengths.
The evidence for a jet flowing from Sgr A* is mounting, the researchers said.
‘One thing we’re really excited about is the prediction for a powerful jet. As our instrumentation improves in the upcoming years, if it exists, we should be able to tease it out of the data,’ Ricarte said.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
