New Images of M87's Black Hole Show its Changing Magnetic Field | ESO FriendsofNASA.org: In 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)—a worldwide network of radio-telescopes—observed the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, leading to the first ever image of a black hole, released in 2019. Now, using observations from 2017, 2018 and 2021, astronomers have found changes in this now iconic image that could be caused by variations in the magnetic field around the black hole. Credi

The M87 galaxy features a powerful jet of plasma, or subatomic particles, blasting out from its supermassive black hole at nearly the speed of light. This jet, which is millions of light-years long, is a cosmic searchlight powered by material from the accretion disk swirling into the black hole and accelerated by magnetic fields. Astronomers use telescopes like the Hubble and James Webb to study the jet's structure, motion, and its influence on its surroundings, such as triggering stellar explos