69
2mon
7

Astronomers Watched a Black Hole Unexpectedly Flip Its Magnetic Field, Challenging Theoretical Models

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-watched-a-black-hole-unexpectedly-flip-its-magnetic-field-challenging-theoretical-models-180987397/
Cid Vicious - 2mon

Out of curiosity how do they tell that the magnetic field has flipped?

15
MeatPilot - 2mon

Swirly went from counter clockwise to clockwise.

16
morphballganon @lemmy.world - 2mon

Doesn't seem surprising to me. Light can't get out. Why would magnetism? Our perception of the magnetic charge is just a reflection of the matter that can still influence our instruments, i.e., the matter that has traversed closer to the singularity stops being detectable over time.

This article is like if you observed that a car passing behind a gas pump changed from the rear half to the front half (because the other half is obscured) and were baffled by it.

4
frongt @lemmy.zip - 2mon

If it did, it didn't cross the event horizon. It was stretched out and spun around faster and faster until it escaped, like a really long gravity slingshot.

4
doingthestuff @lemy.lol - 2mon

I'm no expert on it, but some think it did, it was dark for three years and then matter/light shot out. I have seen more detailed articles on it previously, this was just from a quick search.

1
frongt @lemmy.zip - 2mon

Being dark doesn't mean it crossed the event horizon and came out, it just means the light hadn't been re-emitted yet. It could be orbiting outside for that time.

5