21177 bobanek
25.03.2021, 05:48:06.
First image of a black hole gets a polarizing update that sheds light on magnetic fields
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration produced the first-ever image of a black hole, which lies at the center of the M87 galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth. The image showed a bright ring with a dark center, which is the black hole's shadow. In capturing this image, astronomers noticed a significant amount of polarized light around the black hole. Now, the collaboration has revealed a new look at the black hole, showing what it looks like in polarized light.
Polarized light waves have a different orientation and brightness compared with unpolarized light. And, just like how light is polarized when it passes through some sunglasses, light is polarized when it's emitted in magnetized and hot areas of space.
As polarization is a signature of magnetic fields, this image makes it clear that the black hole's ring is magnetized. This polarized view "tells us that the emission in the ring is most certainly produced by magnetic fields that are located very close to the event horizon," Monika Moscibrodzka, coordinator of the EHT Polarimetry Working Group and assistant professor at Radboud Universiteit in the Netherlands, told Space.com.
Zdroj:Chelsea Gohd 24 March 2021
https://www.space.com/first-black-hole-image-polarized-m87?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SDC_Newsletter&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=6593707
.