A new black hole image reveals the behemoth’s magnetic fields

Event Horizon Telescope data show the orientation of light emitted near M87’s black hole

M87's black hole with polarization of light waves

A new Event Horizon Telescope image of the galaxy M87’s black hole (pictured) traces the polarization (bright lines), or orientation, of light waves emitted by material swirling around the black hole. That polarization is related to the black hole’s magnetic fields.

EHT collaboration

Astronomers have gotten their first glimpse of the magnetic fields tangled around a black hole.