The first black hole we saw is to do something never seen before

The images taken from the most photogenic black hole in the universe over time reveal strange and exciting changes in their magnetic field.

Using observations obtained using the Event Horizon telescope in 2017, 2018 and 2021, scientists mapped the changes in the polarization of the magnetic field of M87*, which suggests that, while the black hole itself is stable, there is a wild and dynamic cosmic climate that extends outside its event horizon.

In fact, between 2017 and 2021, the magnetic field completely turned the direction: the first time such change is seen around a black hole. The results could help us understand how these cosmic giants feed and what drives the extreme airplanes that launch into intergalactic space.

Related: Astronomers are witnesses of Supermasive Black Hole shooting 99% aircraft of the light of the light

M87* is a supermassive black hole in a galaxy to 55 million light years away with a mass of around 6.5 billion times the mass of the sun. As the first theme of the Mission of the Horizon Collaboration event to imagine a supermassive black hole, the object has become one of the most studied supermassive black holes throughout the universe.

Since the first iconic image was launched in 2019, the collaboration has continued to observe M87*, collecting data over the years to track any change in the mass of hot material that staggered around the edge of the black hole. That includes the best observations to the date of the place where the planes are thrown from the posts of an active black hole.

“Jets like M87 play a key role in configuring the evolution of their host galaxies,” explains astronomer Eduardo Ros of the Max Planck Institute of Radioastronomy in Germany. “When regulating stars and distributing energy through great distances, they affect the life cycle of matter in cosmic scales.”

It is believed that the magnetic field of a black hole plays a key role in the creation of its planes. As the material revolves near a black hole, it is organized on an album around Ecuador. However, not all the internal edge material of the album ends up crossing towards oblivion, to never see each other again.

Some, according to the theory, deviate along the magnetic field lines that surround the black hole events. It accelerates to the posts, from where space is thrown at incredibly high speeds, approaching the light in a vacuum. These planes are going through space for up to millions of light years.

To help understand how these jets can be formed in the crazy environment near a black hole, the collaboration of the horizon events telescope took a series of images of M87* in several years and studied them closely to map the changes in the material around the black hole.

The polarization of light was a particular focus. When the light travels through a strongly magnetized environment, the orientation of its waves can organize and align. Although the images of M87* do not seem to change much over time, once the polarization data overlap, quite dramatic variations appear.

In 2017, the magnetic fields seemed spiral in a schedule. For 2018, they changed an anti -Horary sense and seemed to stabilize. By 2021, they looked like a spiral in an antihorarium direction. These results suggest that the magnetic fields around M87* change significantly, and in very short cosmic time scales, while the black hole itself remains the same.

“What is remarkable is that, although the size of the ring has remained consistent over the years, confirming the shadow of the black hole predicted by Einstein’s theory, the polarization pattern changes significantly,” says astronomer Paul Tiede of Harvard and Smithsonian astrophysic center.

“This tells us that the magnetized plasma turning near the horizon of the event is far from static; it is dynamic and complex, carrying our theoretical models to the limit.”

The new results reveal a dynamic, turbulent and always changing environment, which shows how the wild magnetic fields of a supermassive black hole help direct the flow of material, some beyond the horizon of the event, and some threw the space in the form of giant jets.

Future observations will be based on these findings, offering a deeper vision of the fascinating magnetic environment of M87*.

“Pionting on a new border in the astrophysics of the black hole in time domain, the Horizon events telescope is planning an ambitious series of rapid observations in March and April 2026,” says astronomer Remo Tilanus of the Administration Observatory of the University of Arizona.

“We are excited to prepare to capture the first M87**movie, something that has been on our desire list since that first image of a black hole.”

The investigation has been published in Astronomy and astrophysics.

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