Our Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Sagittarius A* in Polarized Light

Our Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Sagittarius A* in Polarized Light

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the center of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of Sagittarius A*. This image shows the polarized view of the Milky Way black hole. The lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole.

Image Description: "An orange donut-shaped object against a black background. Three blobs on the donut are particularly bright. Thin swirling lines overlaid on the donut spiral around the donut’s central hole."

Image Credit: EHT Collaboration/European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #BlackHoles #SagittariusA #SgrA #PolarizedLight #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #ALMA #Chajnantor #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #EHT #EHTCollaboration #STEM #Education