                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 April 1
     A donut-shaped orange figure is seen with lines extending along the
     emission in a swirling pattern. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

       Swirling Magnetic Field around Our Galaxy's Central Black Hole
                       Image Credit: EHT Collaboration

   Explanation: What's happening to the big black hole in the center of
   our galaxy? It is sucking in matter from a swirling disk -- a disk that
   is magnetized, it has now been confirmed. Specifically, the black
   hole's accretion disk has recently been seen to emit polarized light,
   radiation frequently associated with a magnetized source. Pictured here
   is a close-up of Sgr A*, our Galaxy's central black hole, taken by
   radio telescopes around the world participating in the Event Horizon
   Telescope (EHT) Collaboration. Superposed are illustrative curved lines
   indicating polarized light likely emitted from swirling magnetized gas
   that will soon fall into the 4+ million mass central black hole. The
   central part of this image is likely dark because little light-emitting
   gas is visible between us and the dark event horizon of the black hole.
   Continued EHT monitoring of this and M87's central black hole may yield
   new clues about the gravity of black holes and how infalling matter
   creates disks and jets.

        NASA Predicts: Moon to Get in Way of Sun Tomorrow's picture:
                                corona-vision
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

