It may have taken ages to capture the first true image of a black hole, but it only took a year or two to follow them. The New York Times reports that Event Horizon Telescope researchers have released the most detailed image of a black hole to date. The updated image of the Messier 87 galaxy hole shows in polarized light for the first time, showing how magnetic fields (indicated by the lines you see here) behave at the very edge of the galaxy. cosmic wonder.
The new images suggest that these fields are powerful enough to withstand the full magnetic gas at the horizon of the event, helping some of the gas to get rid of the violent pressure in the hole itself. Gas must slide through these fields to fall into the hole, said Jason Dexter of the University of Colorado. The images also suggest that the jet will be powered by the rotating energy of the black hole, according to Event Horizon co-founder Michael Johnson.
The data also allows scientists to estimate that the black hole is a relatively mediocre eater – it ‘just’ eats a thousand of the sun ‘s mass each year.
You should see more insights in the future. While the worldwide EHT mix of telescopes is limited, a future version should be capable enough to produce full-length videos of the magnetic activity. That should show how the magnetic fields emit energy from the black hole and further explain one of the alien objects of the universe.