Astronomers have released a new and detailed image of the M87 black hole, which shows spiraling lines with mysterious magnetic forces close to its edges.
Context
Astronomers have released a new and detailed image of the M87 black hole, which shows spiraling lines with mysterious magnetic forces close to its edges.
Key-highlights of the finding
- The image released is blurry and showed a ring of light around a dark central region.
- This shows that the light around the black hole is polarized.
- The distinct magnetic lines in the image are a result of polarised light.
- Reason for polarization: Light becomes polarized when it passes through certain filters.
- Filters: lenses of polarized sunglasses, hot regions of magnetic fields can act as filters.
- Significance of the finding: Astronomers expects to understand the reason
- behind the eating of matter by black hole
- shoots out massive jet particles into outer space
- behavior of magnetic fields around black holes
M87 black hole
- The black hole was originally captured in April 2019.
- M87 (Messier 87), also called Virgo A or NGC4486, a giant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo.
- M87 is considered to be the most powerful known source of radio energy among the thousands of galactic systems constituting the Virgo Cluster.
- Its nucleus contains a black hole M87.
- The black hole at the center of the massive galaxy M87 is about 55 million light-years from Earth.
- It was the first image of a black hole and its shadow was first given by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).
- The black hole is 6.5 billion times bigger than the Sun.
- Because of the rotation of the black hole, the ring is brighter on one side.
- The material on the side of the black hole turning toward Earth has an emission boost due to the Doppler effect.
|
