KEY POINTS
- Scientists discover magnetic reconnection helps power the massive jets from the spinning black hole M87*.
- The black hole launches matter at near-light speed across thousands of light-years.
- This process sheds new light on how black holes influence galaxy evolution by distributing energy and matter.
FRANKFURT: Astronomers have discovered that the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy M87 propels its colossal jets not only through magnetic fields but via a powerful process known as magnetic reconnection — a breakthrough that sheds new light on how black holes release energy into the cosmos.
Scientists from Goethe University Frankfurt used advanced simulations to demonstrate that as the black hole M87*, which is 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun, spins, it not only twists surrounding magnetic fields but also triggers reconnection events.
These events rapidly release stored magnetic energy, accelerating charged particles and helping launch relativistic jets that stretch thousands of light-years into space.
M87*, made famous by the first-ever image of a black hole in 2019, lies at the centre of the galaxy M87 in the Virgo constellation.
The immense jets from this cosmic giant were first spotted in 1918, decades before black holes were fully understood, and continue to shape galaxies by scattering matter and energy across the cosmos.
