Map of the Magnetic Field Lines in Gas and Dust Swirling Around the Supermassive Black Hole (IMAGE)

Royal Astronomical Society

Map of the Magnetic Field Lines in Gas and Dust Swirling Around the Supermassive Black Hole

Caption

The colour scale in the image shows the amount of infrared (heat) radiation coming from warm dust particles in the filaments and luminous stars within a light year of the Galactic centre. The position of the black hole is indicated by an asterisk. The lines trace the magnetic field directions and reveal the complex interactions between the stars and the dusty filaments, and the impact that they and the gravitational force has on them. The observations were made with the largest telescope in Europe, which allowed details of the fine structure in the magnetic fields to be revealed for the first time.

Credit

E. Lopez-Rodriguez / NASA Ames / University of Texas at San Antonio

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