Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Magnetic Fields at Milky Way's Black Hole


Waspie_Dwarf

Recommended Posts

Event Horizon Telescope Reveals Magnetic Fields at Milky Way's Central Black Hole

Cambridge, MA -Most people think of black holes as giant vacuum cleaners sucking in everything that gets too close. But the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are more like cosmic engines, converting energy from infalling matter into intense radiation that can outshine the combined light from all surrounding stars. If the black hole is spinning, it can generate strong jets that blast across thousands of light-years and shape entire galaxies. These black hole engines are thought to be powered by magnetic fields. For the first time, astronomers have detected magnetic fields just outside the event horizon of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

"Understanding these magnetic fields is critical. Nobody has been able to resolve magnetic fields near the event horizon until now," says lead author Michael Johnson of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The results appear in the Dec. 4th issue of the journal Science.

arrow3.gifRead more...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
  • Replies 2
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Waspie_Dwarf

    2

  • Bendy Demon

    1

Popular Days

Interesting. It is nice to see that our collective knowledge of "Black Holes" has expanded and evolved; that these things are far more complex than we anticipated.

I am no scientist but after some point I figured these things had to be more than just giant drain holes in space sucking stuff down; after all it has to go someplace, right? I began to wonder why these things hadn't "over-flowed" with all the material they drew in, after all even black holes can't have infinite capacity.

I am assuming then that it is "common" for galaxies to have a black hole as its driving force? Would make sense considering that all orbiting bodies would have to be attracted to another source of "energy".

Anyways...cool article, thanks. :yes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am no scientist but after some point I figured these things had to be more than just giant drain holes in space sucking stuff down; after all it has to go someplace, right? I began to wonder why these things hadn't "over-flowed" with all the material they drew in, after all even black holes can't have infinite capacity.

That was not really the scientific view. It was believed that the material that a black hole attracted would be spread acroos the surface of the black hole. It is not a matter of the black hole having a capacity, it would simply grow more and more massive.

I am assuming then that it is "common" for galaxies to have a black hole as its driving force?

It is believed most, if not all, galaxies have a black hole at the centre

Would make sense considering that all orbiting bodies would have to be attracted to another source of "energy".

Orbiting bodies aren't attracted to a source of energy, it is mass that determines orbits.

Although it is believed that black holes exist at the centre of galaxies it is not necessary for them to do so. It is perfectly possible for the mutual mass of the individual stars and planets to cause the objects to be gravitationally bound. They would orbit around the combined centre of mass of the galaxy... which is the centre if the galaxy. It is because a black hole isn't necessary for stars to orbit around the centre of the galaxy that it was observational, not theoretical, science that lead to the discovery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.