This picture, created by an artist, shows the area near a supermassive black hole where jet of particles flow in spirals. Research suggests this pattern is due to twisted magnetic fields. Click on image for full size (214 Kb) Image courtesy of Marscher et al., Wolfgang Steffen, Cosmovision, NRAO/AUI/NSF

Using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and a host of international telescope partners, a team of researchers has made the clearest observation yet of innermost region of a black hole.

From the observations, astronomers found strong evidence that the enormous jets of particles emitted by supermassive black holes are corkscrewed in a way predicted by theory. The researchers believe the coiling is a result of twisted magnetic fields acting on the particle streams.

The researchers reported their findings in the April 24 issue of Nature.

Led by Alan Marscher of Boston University, the international team of researchers studied the galaxy BL Lacertae located 950 million light years from Earth. By observing an outburst from the galaxy from late 2005 to 2006, the team observed bursts of photons oriented in a way predicted by theories about the twisted magnetic fields of black holes.

The VLBA is part of NSF's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). A more detailed release--including graphics and a broadcast-quality animation--is available from NRAO at: http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2008/bllac

Additional images, explanations, data sets and even a related song are available at a Web site posted by Marscher: http://www.bu.edu/blazars/BLLac.html

This picture, created by an artist, shows the area near a supermassive black hole where jet of particles flow in spirals. Research suggests this pattern is due to twisted magnetic fields. Click on image for full size (214 Kb) Image courtesy of Marscher et al., Wolfgang Steffen, Cosmovision, NRAO/AUI/NSF

With the help of some powerful telescopes, a team of scientists has been spying on a black hole at the center of a galaxy that is 950 million light years from Earth.

This is not just any black hole. This is a supermassive black hole - millions of times more massive than the Sun. Jets of charged particles flow from it so fast that they nearly travel at the speed of light.

How these jets of charged particles work has been a mystery. To learn more about them, the team of scientists used the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and international telescope partners too. With these tools they could look at the clearest view ever captured of the innermost region of the black hole. They looked at an outburst of charged particles from the galaxy from late 2005 to 2006.

The images reveal evidence that the enormous jets of particles emitted by supermassive black holes form coiling patterns. The researchers believe the coiling is because the particles flow through twisted magnetic fields that are close to the black hole.

"This is a major advance in our understanding of a remarkable process that occurs throughout the Universe," said Alan Marscher of Boston University, leader of the research team.

This picture, created by an artist, shows the area near a supermassive black hole where jet of particles flow in spirals. Research suggests this pattern is due to twisted magnetic fields. Click on image for full size (214 Kb) Image courtesy of Marscher et al., Wolfgang Steffen, Cosmovision, NRAO/AUI/NSF

With the help of some powerful telescopes, a team of scientists has been spying on a black hole. It is at the center of a galaxy 950 million light years away.

This is not just any black hole. This is a supermassive black hole. It is millions of times more massive than the Sun. Jets of charged particles flow from it.

How these charged particles work has been a mystery. To learn more about them, the team of scientists looked at an outburst of charged particles from a supermassive black hole with telescopes.

They found that the enormous jets of particles form coiling patterns. The scientists believe the coiling is because the particles flow through twisted magnetic fields that are close to the black hole.