Technion Researchers Observe Solar Storm Phenomenon in Supermassive Black Hole

Researchers from the Technion's Faculty of Physics have reported the first direct observational evidence of magnetic reconnection in the corona of an active galactic nucleus. This phenomenon, the same physical process that drives solar storms, was observed in the halo of the supermassive black hole within the galaxy NGC 3783. The study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, was led by Gal Varday and Ehud Behar. The paper, titled "Observation of A Solar Like Magnetic Reconnection Event in an AGN Corona with XRISM," utilized data from the XRISM X-ray telescope and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope.

The team detected an X-ray flare emanating from the vicinity of the black hole. By comparing soft X-rays (below 2 keV) with hard X-rays (above 2 keV), they found that the hard X-ray curve's temporal variation matched the soft X-ray curve. This signature, known as the "Newport effect," is typically observed in solar flares, such as an X4.2 class solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on February 4, 2026. According to the study, this match indicates the flare originated from magnetic reconnection, where magnetic field lines break and re-form, releasing energy. The researchers estimated the magnetic loop responsible for the flare was no more than 30 gravitational radii in height, a unit of measurement relative to the black hole's size. A super-fast outflow of material was also recorded during the event, which the researchers equate to Coronal Mass Ejections observed on the Sun.

The black hole in NGC 3783 has a mass approximately 30 million times that of the Sun, according to the European Space Agency. In a related observation announced by the ESA on December 9, 2025, the XRISM and XMM-Newton telescopes detected winds in the same galaxy traveling at 60,000 kilometers per second, or one-fifth the speed of light, which formed within a single day following a flare. The XRISM mission, led by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency with participation from ESA and NASA, was launched in September 2023, while XMM-Newton has been operational for over 25 years. As the study focuses on a single event in one object, the question of whether this phenomenon occurs in other black holes remains open for future observations.