Like many other galaxies in the universe, the Milky Way also has a supermassive black hole in its center. For the first time, astronomers have succeeded in detecting magnetic fields outside the event horizon of that black hole.

Michael Johnson, a researcher from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and lead author of the research, said the new findings on magnetic fields are important. It is the first time when something about magnetic fields close to the event horizon of the black hole has been resolved, Johnson added.

Research authors also said that it is not the first time when magnetic fields were predicted. Their presence was predicted before, but no one detected them before, they explained. Now, the researchers succeeded in spotting the magnetic field with the help of Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

According to the reports, “Bigger telescopes are now able to provide greater detail, the EHT eventually will resolve features as small as 15 micro-arcseconds. One arcsecond is 1/3600 of a degree, and 15 micro-arcseconds is the angular equivalent of viewing a golf ball on the moon”.

Sagittarius A-star, also known as Sgr A*, is central black hole of the Milky Way and has mass about four million times as much as the sun, but its event horizon is lesser than Mercury’s orbit. As its gravity distorts light and makes event horizon look huge, it looks bigger in sky. This is the reason EHT could resolve it.