New images of the M87 * Black Hole of the Telescope Horizon Event Horizon (EHT)-A range on the planet of the Eight Radiotelelescopes on the ground (Alma, Apex, Télescope Iram 30-M, Le Tellescope Maxwell by James Maxwell, Télescope South Pot-Stellescope, Télestopie Submillicier, with a south POOTCOP) – Submillicime Télélescope, Submillimeter telescope, and the South POOTCOPE) – Remember al, Sombilmeter such as polarization models near the black hole.
As these EHT images show, while the magnetic fields of M87 * seemed to be a spiral in a direction in 2017, they settled in 2018 and reversed management in 2021. Image credit: EHT collaboration.
Messier 87 is a giant elliptical galaxy located about 53 million light years in the virgin constellation.
Also known as M87, the Galaxy Harbors M87 *, a supermassive black hole with a mass of more than 6 billion solar masses.
In 2017, the EHT collaboration observed a spiral polarization scheme which is the signing of a large -scale twisted magnetic structure, confirming long -standing ideas on the way black holes have interacts and impact, their environments.
But in 2018, polarization has practically disappeared. In 2021, the lean remains started in a spiral in the opposite direction.
Astrophysicists are now struggling with a lonely question: why?
“Black holes hold their tight mysteries, but we now set the answers for their reach,” said Professor Avery Broderick, astrophysicist at the University of Waterloo and the Perimeter Institute.
“Our Waterloo team was central to rebuild the images of the EHT data, and determine what we can be confident is real and what could simply be an instrumental artifact.”
“We were at the forefront of understanding how the EHT images, and in particular their evolution, can reveal the astrophysical dramas that take place on the most extreme stage in Gravity.”
Year after year, the EHT collaboration dates back to M87 * to capture moments that show how it evolves, knowing that each time, they will have more information on its attentive secrets for a long time.
“What is remarkable is that even if the size of the ring has remained consistent over the years, confirming the shadow of the black hole predicted by the theory of Einstein, the polarization model changes considerably,” said Dr. Paul Tiede, astronomer of the center of Astrophysics of Harvard & Smithsonian.
“This tells us that the swirling magnetized plasma near the horizon of the event is far from static; it is dynamic and complex, pushing our theoretical models to the limit.”
The stability of the shadow of M87 * can be considered as proof that “black holes have no hair”, an old metaphor of decades meaning that black holes are simple geometric objects without descriptive parameters beyond their mass, their rotation and their load.
“This is one of the reasons why they are as interesting as gravitational objects. You can make very clear and clear predictions, and all astrophysical phenomena do not seem to have much importance,” said Professor Broderick.
“But the things around it can have hair, and these magnetic fields are a striking example.”
“We have a clear meaning for what type of magnetic hairstyles should have been allowed for a long time, but now we see that, as with humans, you can get a lot of different hairstyles over four years.”
“These results show how the EHT evolves towards a full -fledged scientific observatory, capable of providing unprecedented images, but to build a progressive and coherent understanding of black holes physics,” said Professor Mariafelicia de Laurentis, astrophysicist at the University of Naples Federico II.
“Each new campaign expands our horizon, from the dynamics of plasma and magnetic fields to the role of black holes in cosmic evolution.”
“This is a concrete demonstration of the extraordinary scientific potential of this instrument.”
The results will be published in the journal Astronomy and astrophysics.
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Kazunori Akiyama and al. (Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration). 2025. Variability on the scale of the horizon of M87 * of the 2017-2021 EHT observations. A&Ain press; DOI: 10.1051 / 0004-6361 / 202555855
