Astronomers Detect Light Behind Black Hole for 1st Time

Varieties

July 31st, 5:56am

London - Asharq Al-Awsat

A polarized view of the black hole in the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy shows the lines marking the orientation of polarization, captured by The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, March 24, 2021. (European Southern Observatory via AFP)

Astronomers have detected light behind a black hole deep in space for the first time. Bright flares of X-rays were spotted bursting from a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy 800m light years away, which is relatively normal, according to The Guardian. Researchers were studying a feature known as the corona, but telescopes also picked up unexpected "luminous echoes." These additional flashes were smaller, later and of different colors than the bright flares. The discovery confirms Albert Einstein's theory on general relativity. The gravitational pull from black holes essentially bends light rays around themselves, giving scientists their first glimpse of what lies behind. Roger Blandford, a co-author of the research, published in Nature, said: "Fifty years ago, when astrophysicists started to speculate how the magnetic field might behave close to a black hole, they had no idea that one day we might have the techniques to observe this directly and see Einstein's general theory of relativity in action." Dan Wilkins, an astrophysicist from Stanford University, said: "Any light that goes into that black hole doesn't come out, so we shouldn't be able to see anything that's behind the black hole." "The reason we can see that is because that black hole is warping space, bending light and twisting magnetic fields around itself," he added.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3107546/astronomers-detect-light-behind-black-hole-1st-time