2024-04-16 13:51:18
Par Tristan Vey
Published now, Updated now
The image reveals that the magnetic field around the black hole is well ordered and spirals. EHT Collaboration
INTERVIEW – A true technical feat, a second photo of Sagittarius A* has just been revealed. Sara Issaoun, astronomer co-responsible for the project, explains its scope.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has just unveiled a new portrait of Sagitarrius A* (or SgrA*), the central black hole which nestles at the heart of the Milky Way, our galaxy. Unlike the first photo, unveiled with great fanfare on May 22, 2022, the new image only shows so-called “polarized” light. Sara Issaoun, astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics – Harvard & Smithsonian and co-leader of this project, explains why this new image is important and what it tells us about black holes in general.
LE FIGARO. – Why does this portrait in polarized light reveal these luminous cilia which wrap around the central shadow where the black hole is hidden ?
Sarah ISSAOUN. – Everything happens as if we had added a filter allowing only certain photons to pass through, those which present a particular property called “linear polarization”. About 20 to 30% of light is polarized this way in the environment of the…
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