Allegation:
A photo shared online in March 2024 shows the first image in polarized light of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Evaluation:
Context:
The photo showed the first image in polarized light of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. However, this was not the first image of the astronomical object. This was released in May 2022.
On March 27, 2024, accounts in x (formerly Twitter) posted a picture It shows bright magnetic fields orbiting around a dark midpoint and claims to show the first image in polarized light of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
One account wrote: “The Event Horizon Telescope has captured the first image of our supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A, in polarized light.”
NEWS 🚨: Event Horizon Telescope captures first image of our supermassive black hole Sagittarius A in polarized light pic.twitter.com/6KdrtMG4x1
— The latest in space (@latestinspace) March 27, 2024
X posts had reached more than 3.7 million views at the time of this writing. Examples of the claim also appeared on Facebook and Instagram.
The image is real but some There were social media users I was not convincedAnd some were questioned whether it is real or not.
The image shows the first polarized light image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, according to the official website of the Event Horizon Telescope, an international collaboration consisting of a global network of radio telescopes.
The image reveals magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the galactic monster, which may be uniform for supermassive black holes due to findings of another supermassive black hole the telescope network has previously observed, an EHT news release said.
The newsletter said:
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has revealed strong and regular magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). This new image of the monster lurking at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, seen for the first time in polarized light, revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87. fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also points to the presence of a stealth jet in Sgr A*. The results were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The newsletter explained ordinary light as “an oscillating or moving electromagnetic wave that allows us to see objects.” Light also sometimes oscillates in a preferred direction, called “polarized.” Polarized light is everywhere, but to the human eye it is indistinguishable from “normal” light.
Normal light waves vibrate up and down in an S-shape along their travel path. But up and down are not fixed directions, as explained in a 2021 article from BBC Science Focus. Vibrations can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, or any angle in between. For example, the waves of sunlight are evenly dispersed at all these angles. Polarized light, on the other hand, vibrates at only one angle.
The EHT publication continued:
In the plasma around these black holes, particles orbiting magnetic field lines impart a polarization pattern perpendicular to the field. This allows astronomers to see what’s happening in black hole regions in increasingly vivid detail and map magnetic field lines.
Image courtesy of EHT on Facebook, Instagram and x accounts.
A news release was also published by the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which contributed to the project.
The results of the research were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 27, 2024.
Although the photo shows the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way in polarized light, it was not the first image of Sagittarius A* taken. The first picture of the celestial object was published in the EHT newsletter on May 12, 2022.
Snopes previously reported the first computer visualization of a black hole.
Resources:
About. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/about. Access date: 29 March 2024.
Astronomers Reveal the First Image of the Black Hole at the Heart of Our Galaxy. May 12, 2022, https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy.
Astronomers Reveal Strong Magnetic Fields Spiraling at the Edge of the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole. March 27, 2024, https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-unveil-strong-magnetic-fields-spiraling-edge-milky-way%E2%80%99s-central-black-hole.
Astronomers Reveal Strong Magnetic Fields Spiraling on the Edge of the Milky Way’s Central Black Hole. March 27, 2024, https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-unveil-strong-magnetic-fields-spiraling-edge-milky-ways-central-black-hole.
Authors.), Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (See last entry for full list of ‘First Arc A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. Polarization of Ring VII’.) Astrophysics Journal Letters, vol. 964, no. 2, March 2024, p. L25. Institute of Physicshttps://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df0.
‘https://Twitter.Com/Ehtelescope/Status/1772971844271812874′. X (Formerly Twitter), https://twitter.com/ehtelescope/status/1772971844271812874. Access date: 29 March 2024.
instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C5BMJ7SO4J4/. Access date: 29 March 2024.
Press Release (April 10, 2019): Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/press-release-april-10-2019-astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole. Access date: 29 March 2024.
What is Polarized Light? https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-polarised-light. Access date: 29 March 2024.