
The magnetic field surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy is channelling gas particles into orbit around the hole, rather than into it.
The finding solves the mystery of why the Milky Way’s black hole is quieter than those at the heart of other galaxies, which emit radiation as they devour matter.
NASA experts mapped out the field using a far-infrared light detector, mounted on a flying telescope, to detect the movements of interstellar dust around the hole.
Like many galaxies, our Milky Way harbours a supermassive black hole at its centre, one which researchers have dubbed Sagittarius A*.
Most galaxies’ supermassive black holes are active, with vast amounts of material falling into them and causing them to emit high-energy radiation in the process — oddly, however, the one at the heart of the Milky Way is relatively quiet.
Investigating this phenomenon, NASA researchers found that the magnetic field around Sagittarius A* channels surrounding gas into orbit around the black hole, rather than directly into it, keeping the hole from ‘feeding’.
‘The spiral shape of the magnetic field channels the gas into an orbit around the black hole,’ said lead study author and astrophysicist Darren Dowell, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
‘This could explain why our black hole is quiet while others are active,’ he added.
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