Black Hole

It is now believed that at the center of each galaxy there is a super-massive black hole that is millions to billions of times heavier than our sun. The massive black hole captures nearby stars and drags them into a swirling accretion disk. A "torus" in the inner accretion shields the black hole in those systems that are viewed edge on (which is probably the case for our galactic center). In many of these systems (which are called AGN = active galactic nucleus), a jet is ejected perpendicular to the disk and is seen in the optical and radio wavebands. In the very central regions the disk becomes so hot (tens of millions of degrees) that the emission is in the X-ray and Gamma-ray bands. This animation shows an artist's impression of the view from an approaching spaceship. The HEASARC data archives contain many observations of these systems made with orbiting X-ray and Gamma-ray observatories.

• To learn more about black holes, see also Black Holes and Beyond

• The set of small GIF images used to create the blackhole inline animation is available.

• Take a virtual trip to a black hole or neutron star through MPEG movies.

• See also the supernova and X-ray binary inline animations.

• Visit the HEASARC Images and Video Archive.

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Pat Tyler