The M87* ring is imaged in polarised light
The collaboration published polarimetric images of the M87* ring, mapping the orientation of magnetic fields in the emitting plasma just outside the shadow. The pattern indicates fields strong and ordered enough to resist being dragged inward by the accreting gas, which is the configuration jet-launching models require. It is the closest thing yet to a direct look at the magnetic structure that the Blandford-Znajek mechanism needs in order to work.
Observed — measured or witnessed, with the observation cited.
Subjects
- M87* - the supermassive black hole in Messier 87 · celestial body · Virgo Cluster, constellation Virgo as seen from Earth · not located
- Relativistic jet · phenomenon · not located
- Accretion disc · phenomenon · not located
- Event Horizon Telescope · network · Global array · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VII. Polarization of the Ring
Maps the magnetic field structure in the emitting plasma around M87*, favouring a magnetically arrested accretion state of the kind jet-launching models require. V55 VERIFICATION BASIS: not consulted in session; no research tool was available. Volume and article number are from recall and must be checked; a companion paper on the magnetic field is deliberately not cited separately.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration) · 2021 · Partly verified
Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, Astrophysical Journal Letters 910, L12 (2021)
Recorded on M87* - the supermassive black hole in Messier 87
- Heber Curtis records a curious straight ray in Messier 87
- Cygnus X-1 is localised and weighed
- Bekenstein assigns entropy to a black hole
- A mechanism for extracting energy from a spinning black hole
- The Event Horizon Telescope observes M87* and Sagittarius A*
- The first image of a black hole shadow is published
- The M87* ring is imaged in polarised light
- The black hole at the centre of our own galaxy is imaged
- A second epoch shows the ring persists and the bright spot moves
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- A second epoch shows the ring persists and the bright spot moves · 2024
- The black hole at the centre of our own galaxy is imaged · 2022-05-12
- The first image of a black hole shadow is published · 2019-04-10
- The Event Horizon Telescope observes M87* and Sagittarius A* · 2017-04
- A mechanism for extracting energy from a spinning black hole · 1977
- Bekenstein assigns entropy to a black hole · 1973
- Cygnus X-1 is localised and weighed · 1971-1972
- Heber Curtis records a curious straight ray in Messier 87 · 1918