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    Magnetic 'Reconnection' tagged posts

    Origin of Supermassive Black Hole Flares identified: Largest-ever simulations suggest Flickering powered by Magnetic ‘Reconnection’

    February 7, 2022, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A snapshot from one of the new black hole simulations. Here, green magnetic field lines are overlaid on a map of hot plasma. Just outside the black hole’s event horizon, the connection of magnetic field lines pointing in opposite directions makes an X-point where they crisscross. This process of reconnection launches some particles in the plasma into the black hole and others into space, an important step in the generation of black hole flares. B. Ripperda et al., Astrophysical Journal Letters 2022

    Black holes aren’t always in the dark. Astronomers have spotted intense light shows shining from just outside the event horizon of supermassive black holes, including the one at our galaxy’s core...

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