The first-ever photographed black hole is undergoing changes: what astronomers have discovered (photo).

In 2019, astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project made history by capturing the first image of the supermassive black hole M87*, located at the center of the galaxy M87. This image was based on data collected in 2017. Now, scientists from the EHT project have analyzed data gathered in 2018 and made new discoveries. The research has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, reports SciTechDaily.

The researchers combined observational data of the black hole M87* to gain new insights into the structure and movement of plasma near the black hole's event horizon. The new findings provide the most detailed understanding of how matter rotates around supermassive black holes in the accretion disk.

As the black hole attracts matter, the latter begins to orbit the black hole in the form of an accretion disk, and then spirals inward into the black hole. The rotation of the accretion disk can reveal a great deal to scientists about the black hole, such as its mass and spatial orientation. It also helps to understand how plasma behaves near the event horizon of the black hole, which is the invisible boundary beyond which nothing can escape back into space, not even light.

The study revealed that the brightest part of the accretion disk shifted and rotated by 30 degrees over the course of a year due to turbulence within the disk. Researchers also confirmed that the rotation axis of the supermassive black hole M87* is tilted away from Earth. Astronomers discovered that the outer ring of plasma rotates in the opposite direction to that of the black hole itself.

According to the astronomers, this latest discovery supports existing models of how matter rotates around supermassive black holes. Additionally, this research has shown how a black hole can change over a relatively short period of time.

The new data analysis also helped scientists confirm that the supermassive black hole M87* has a mass approximately 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.

The researchers plan to continue analyzing the data to create a "movie" based on the available images, which will illustrate what is actually happening around the black hole M87*.

This study deepens our understanding of how the universe has evolved. Supermassive black holes are found at the center of every large galaxy, and studying their secrets will help us understand how galaxies form and die.