Astronomers have made their first discovery linking young stars to massive black holes (photo).

At first glance, it may seem that young stars and supermassive black holes have little in common. However, both types of objects emit relativistic jets. For the first time, researchers have found evidence that spiral magnetic fields can explain processes related to young stars and supermassive black holes. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, as reported by Space.

Newborn stars or protostars are objects that have not yet accumulated enough mass to initiate thermonuclear fusion in their cores and become regular stars. In contrast, the mass of supermassive black holes, equivalent to millions or billions of solar masses, is compressed into a space no wider than a few billion kilometers. For context, the width of the Solar System is estimated to be about 30 trillion kilometers.

However, protostars and supermassive black holes share at least one common feature. These objects release high-speed relativistic jets from their poles while simultaneously gaining mass for growth.

The authors of the study believe that the mechanism for creating these jets may be the same for both vastly different astronomical objects. Researchers reached this conclusion after discovering a spiral magnetic field within the jet of the protostar HH 80-81, which is located approximately 5,500 light-years away from us.

Scientists found that the spiral magnetic fields in the jets of the protostar are similar to those found in the jets of supermassive black holes. Thus, the researchers have obtained reliable evidence for the existence of a common mechanism that explains processes in entirely different astronomical objects.

Although scientists had hypothesized the existence of such a common mechanism, they previously lacked compelling evidence to support it. Obtaining this evidence was challenging, as protostellar jets primarily emit thermal radiation, complicating the detection of the magnetic field structure.

Now, using the Very Large Array radio telescope, researchers have succeeded in visualizing the three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field of the relativistic jet from the protostar. Data analysis allowed scientists to adjust the rotation of light polarization as it passed through magnetized plasma, thereby revealing the true orientation of the magnetic field in the HH 80-81 jet.

Scientists believe that spiral magnetic fields are a universal mechanism for launching relativistic jets.