Posted on 11/02/2012 3:55:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: At the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, a mere 27,000 light-years away, lies a black hole with 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Fondly known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star), the Milky Way's black hole is fortunately mild-mannered compared to the central black holes in distant active galaxies, much more calmly consuming material around it. From time to time it does flare-up, though. A recent outburst lasting several hours is captured in this series of premier X-ray images from the orbiting Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). Launched last June 13, NuSTAR is the first to provide focused views of the area surrounding Sgr A* at X-ray energies higher than those accessible to Chandra and XMM observatories. Spanning two days of NuSTAR observations, the recent flare sequence is illustrated in the panels at the far right. X-rays are generated in material heated to over 100 million degrees Celsius, accelerated to nearly the speed of light as it falls into the Miky Way's central black hole. The main inset X-ray image spans about 100 light-years. In it, the bright white region represents the hottest material closest to the black hole, while the pinkish cloud likely belongs to a nearby supernova remnant.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, NuSTAR project]
There’s so much out there we have no idea.
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Amazing. I want to go there someday...NOT! :-)
“Black hole” racist!
Extemely cool video at
http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso0846b/
It is a time lapse video of IR images and other depictions of the movement of the 28 stars closest to this black hole
Isn’t it much more of a window than a hole?
Man, they got that right.
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