News Astronomy

Magnetic Thrust: Fields force matter into black holes

By Eric Jaffe

- More than 2 years ago

Like a child scared to dive into a pool, cosmic matter needs one last push to plunge into a black hole. New observations confirm that magnetic fields provide this final galactic shove.

DISK DISCONNECT. Gas from a star (right) circles a black hole, in this artist’s representation. A new study confirms that magnetic fields disrupt the disk’s orbit and cause some of the matter to fall into the black hole.