Irish scientist among ‘black hole’ team

An Irish scientist is among an international team which has, for the first time, been able to take a direct measurement of the magnetic field surrounding a black hole at the centre of our galaxy.

According to an article published in the scientific journal, Nature, the magnetic field around the hole, named Sagittarius A*, is more than a hundred times stronger than that of Earth.

Even though the hole is understood to be as large as 4m suns, it is only swallowing up a tiny fraction of the gas and dust around it.