Scientists Measure Supermassive Black Hole Coronae For The First Time

[Judi Lynn]

20 December 2018, 3:12 am EST By Diane Samson Tech Times




An artist’s concept of the core of Cygnus A. Scientists measured the magnetic fields of two nearby
supermassive black holes at the center of two active galaxies. They discovered that, unlike the Sun, the
magnetic fields do not power the coronae. ( NASA/SOFIA/Lynette Cook )

Astronomers measured the magnetic fields of two supermassive black holes at the center of active galaxies and found that their strengths do not power the coronae.

It has long been assumed that, like the Sun's corona, the coronae of supermassive black holes were heated by the energies of their magnetic fields. However, they found that it was not the case.

Measuring A Supermassive Black Hole's Magnetic Field
The researchers used the data from the ALMA radio observatory in northern Chile to measure the strength of the magnetic fields around the two supermassive black holes in the active galactic nuclei IC 4329A, which is 200 million light-years away, and NGC 985, which is 580 million light-years away. This is the first time that anyone has measured magnetic fields around black holes, according to the researchers.

The team began measuring the magnetic fields using the ALMA radio observatory and then compared their data with observations from the VLA observatory in the United States and the ATCA observatory in Australia. Although the radio telescopes measured slightly different frequency bands, the researchers were able to confirm that there was an excess of radio emission from the synchrotron radiation.

More:
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/236557/20181220/scientists-measure-supermassive-black-hole-coronae-for-the-first-time.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. This image is totally beyond my ability to grasp, but I think it is amazing. n/t