¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2021 March 31 [2]Polarization of light emitted from the near the black hole M87 is pictured. See Explanation. M87's Central Black Hole in Polarized Light Image Credit: [3]Event Horizon Telescope [4]Collaboration; Text: [5]Jayanne English ([6]U. Manitoba) Explanation: To play on [7]Carl Sagan's [8]famous words "If you wish to make black hole jets, you must first create magnetic fields." The [9]featured image represents the [10]detected intrinsic spin direction ([11]polarization) of [12]radio waves. The [13]polarizationi is produced by the powerful [14]magnetic field surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of [15]elliptical galaxy [16]M87. The radio waves were detected by the [17]Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which combines data from radio telescopes [18]distributed worldwide. The [19]polarization structure, mapped using computer generated [20]flow lines, is overlaid on [21]EHT's famous black hole image, first published in 2019. The full 3-D magnetic field is [22]complex. Preliminary [23]analyses indicate that parts of the field circle around the black hole along with the [24]accreting matter, as expected. However, [25]another component seemingly veers vertically away from the black hole. This component could explain how matter resists falling in and is instead launched into [26]M87's jet. Tomorrow's picture: cleaning mars __________________________________________________________________ [27]< | [28]Archive | [29]Submissions | [30]Index | [31]Search | [32]Calendar | [33]RSS | [34]Education | [35]About APOD | [36]Discuss | [37]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell ([41]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [42]Specific rights apply. [43]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [44]ASD at [45]NASA / [46]GSFC & [47]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/M87bhPolarized_Eht_3414.jpg 3. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/ 4. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/organization 5. http://www2.physics.umanitoba.ca/u/english/ 6. https://sci.umanitoba.ca/physics-astronomy/ 7. https://youtu.be/v0CG5TM0oa4 8. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/02/making-apple-pie-and-creation-universe 9. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-image-magnetic-fields-edge-m87s-black-hole 10. https://insidetheperimeter.ca/opening-up-closure-traces/ 11. https://www.rfvenue.com/blog/2014/12/15/wave-polarization-explained 12. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/05_radiowaves 13. https://ixpe.msfc.nasa.gov/creation.html 14. https://youtu.be/8llkHQtaOlg 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040616.html 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87 17. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/about 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope#/media/File:The_Event_Horizon_Telescope_and_Global_mm-VLBI_Array_on_the_Earth.jpg 19. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abe71d 20. http://www.zhanpingliu.org/research/flowvis/LIC/LIC.htm 21. https://eventhorizontelescope.org/press-release-april-10-2019-astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole 22. https://barkpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/toiletpaperdog.jpg 23. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abe4de 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200825.html 25. https://aasnova.org/2021/03/24/event-horizon-telescope-traces-magnetic-fields-around-a-black-hole/ 26. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2000/20/968-Image.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210330.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 36. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210331 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210401.html 38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 44. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 45. https://www.nasa.gov/ 46. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 47. http://www.mtu.edu/