Photo: They discovered that the jet from the first photographed black hole has a “DNA-like” structure and extends 3,300 light-years across

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December 13, 2021, 11:25 GMT

Scientists note that the shape of the structure is unexpected for a phenomenon so far removed from the black hole, but it can be explained by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

One Jet Emitted from the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) has been captured and analyzed by an international team of astronomers, who describe their results in study It was published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters last Tuesday.

The event was studied at different radio wavelengths, allowing researchers to reconstruct its 3D structure. As a result, they discovered that the jet material “follows a double helix similar in structure to DNA,” explained team leader Alice Basito, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), in Release National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Another researcher, Ivan Marti Vidal, of the University of Valencia (UV), noted that the shape of the phenomenon itself was to be expected. However, the distance from the M87 nuclear black hole observed –3300 light years– It was something unexpected.

“The magnetic field is expected to have a helical structure very close to the black hole and to play an essential role in directing and accelerating the plasma, but We did not expect such an organized field at such great distances” Release from ultraviolet rays.

“The field is expected to weaken With the distance due to various processes, such as investing magnetic energy in accelerating particles,” added his colleague Manel Perucho.

Astronomers believe that the plane’s magnetic field can retain its structure at such a huge distance thanks to Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Described for the first time in the field of hydrodynamics. According to this hypothesis, at the maximum pressure created by the phenomenon “the magnetic field lines will also be compressed and the emission will be enhanced, both overall intensity and polarization”. Previously, this model had already been proposed to explain another possible flux of filamentous structure observed in the 3C 273 quasar.

galaxy M87 located around 55 million light years Earth has a supermassive black hole (M87*) of about 6,500 solar masses at its center.

In April 2019, scientists Foot View of M87*, in the first image of a black hole. The appearance of the body was recreated based on observations taken by various observatories over a week. After that, it was allowed to use a larger number of notes Recreate its dynamics.