Polarized Image of Black Hole - New image confirms presence of magnetic field

Two years ago (in 2019), researchers photographed the first-ever mind-boggling image of a black hole, which lies at the center of the massive Messier 87 galaxy at 55 million light-years from Earth. The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration on March 24, 2021, released a polarized image of the black hole which is a filtered version of the same black hole image in which now the magnetic field lines are indicated at the edge. The study was published via three research papers (1, 2, 3) in The Astrophysical Journal.

What It Looks Like In Polarized Light?

The image published in 2019 shows the shadow of the black hole that contains a ring surrounding the dark central region. The new image shows that this surrounding ring contains a magnetic field and this has been proved because the light waves emanating from the edge of the black hole are showing polarisation.

We use the concept of polarisation in day-to-day life such as in polarised sunglasses to reduce glare from the sun. The process of polarization is simply the process of changing the geometrical orientation of the plane of vibration. Polarisation is possible for transverse waves and visible light is transverse in nature.

In space, there is no lens or filter that can work as a polarizer but if polarization is taking place it must be due to the magnetized area in the space and that is the reason it has been said that –

Polarization is a signature of magnetic fields.

This simply means if polarisation is being observed it is because of the magnetic fields or polarisation in space shows the presence of the magnetic fields in the space.

The following is the polarised image of the black hole.

Polarized-Image-of-Black-Hole — *Black hole in polarised light from M87 radio* *galaxy, Credit: EHT Collaboration*

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How This Polarized Image of The Black Hole is Helpful?

With the first release of the black hole image, some questions were unanswered. These include, how jets are launched from M87’s core? how matter lying close to the edge of a black hole falls into it and how some particles escape its grip?

To explain these phenomena scientists have believed that matter behaves in a different manner when it is close to a black hole. Now with the clear look (polrised version) of the black hole region where all this is happening, scientist can better explain the actual cause.

Early observations suggest that due to the highly magnetized gas that lies at the outer edge of the black hole a strong push back is applied that resists the gravity’s pull of the black hole. The portion of the matter that is close to the inner edge spiral around and is attracted towards the black hole due to gravitational pull.

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Way Forward

The efforts of over 300 researchers have successfully realized the most detailed black hole image ever. The surprising task is done with the help of the virtual Earth-sized telescope named EHT (Event Horizon Telescope). This telescope has the highest angular resolving power to date.

The first image of the black hole shows the intensity and now the updated version indicated the presence of the magnetic field. This new finding of polarized image of the black hole when studied by researchers will unravel the mystery relating to the jet of subatomic particles flowing out from the M87 galaxy. As of now, the polarization is done and studied for the visible region of light waves but the scientists have planned to study the black hole at different wavelengths for a complete understanding.

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