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This black hole flipped its magnetic field

Astronomers watched the disk around M87* reverse polarity over just a few years

Observations over four years show the magnetic fields around black hole M87* reversing direction. The circular glow is the accretion disk of material gathering around the black hole, with the lines showing the embedded magnetic field that shepherds that material.

EHT Collaboration, Amy C. Oliver/CfA

By Mara Johnson-Groh

The magnetic field swirling around an enormous black hole, located about 55 million light-years from Earth, has unexpectedly switched directions.