Event Horizon Telescope

M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
December 3, 2015
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M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

In this artist's conception, the black hole at the center of our galaxy is surrounded by a hot disk of accreting material. Blue lines trace magnetic fields. The Event Horizon Telescope has measured those magnetic fields for the first time with a resolution six times the size of the event horizon (6 Schwarzschild radii). It found the fields in the disk to be disorderly, with jumbled loops and whorls resembling intertwined spaghetti. In contrast, other regions showed a much more organized pattern, possibly in the region where jets (shown by the narrow yellow streamer) would be generated.

Image by M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics