Claim:
A photo shared online in March 2024 shows the first image in polarized light of the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way.
Judgement:
Context:
The photo showed the first image in polarized light of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, it was not the very first image of the astronomical object. That appeared in May 2022.
On March 27, 2024, accounts on X (formerly Twitter) posted an image shows bright magnetic fields orbiting a dark center 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 🚨: The Event Horizon Telescope has captured the first image of our supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A, in polarized light pic.twitter.com/6KdrtMG4x1
— Latest in Space (@latestinspace) March 27, 2024
Together, the X-posts had been viewed more than 3.7 million times at the time of writing. Examples of the claim also appeared on Facebook and Instagram.
However, the image is authentic some were social media users not convincedAnd some wondered whether it was real.
The image does show 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.
According to an EHT news report, the image revealed magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the galactic beast, which could be uniform for supermassive black holes due to the findings of another supermassive black hole that the network of telescopes previously observed.
The press release read:
A new image from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has revealed strong and organized magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the 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, has revealed a magnetic field structure strikingly similar to that of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy. fields may be common to all black holes. This similarity also points to a hidden jet in Sgr A*. The results were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The press release explained simple light as “an oscillating or moving electromagnetic wave that allows us to see objects.” Light also sometimes oscillates in a preferred orientation, which is called “polarized.” Polarized light is present everywhere, but is indistinguishable from ‘normal’ light to the human eye.
Normal light waves vibrate up and down in an S-shape along their path of travel. However, up and down are not fixed directions, as explained in a 2021 BBC Science Focus article. The vibrations can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal – or any angle in between. For example, the waves of sunlight are even distributed over all those angles. Polarized light, on the other hand, vibrates at only one angle.
The EHT publication continued:
In the plasma around these black holes, particles swirling around magnetic field lines create a polarization pattern perpendicular to the field. This allows astronomers to see in increasingly vivid detail what’s happening in regions of black holes and map their magnetic field lines.
The image was posted on the EHT’s Facebook, Instagram and Instagram pages X accounts.
A press release was also issued by the Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics, which contributed to the project.
The results of the study were published on March 27, 2024 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Although the photo showed the first image in polarized light of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, it was not the first time an image of Sagittarius A* had been captured. The first photo of the celestial body was published in an EHT press release on May 12, 2022.
Snopes previously reported on the first computer visualization of a black hole.
Sources:
About. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/about. Accessed March 29, 2024.
Astronomers reveal first image of the black hole at the heart of our Milky Way. May 12, 2022, https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-reveal-first-image-black-hole-heart-our-galaxy.
Astronomers reveal strong magnetic fields 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 at 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.), The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (See the thesis for the complete list of, et al. ‘First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VII. Polarization of the Ring’. The astrophysical diary letters, full. 964, no. March 2, 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. Accessed March 29, 2024.
Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/C5BMJ7SO4J4/. Accessed March 29, 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. Accessed March 29, 2024.
What is polarized light? https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-polarized-light. Accessed March 29, 2024.