Heaviest Stellar Black Hole Discovered in Nearby Galaxy

This artist's rendering shows a black hole in orbit with a large blue star. Material from the star is being pulled into a disk that revolves around the black hole at the center (orange disk). X-rays from Chandra and optical data from the Gemini telescope help determine that this black hole is almost 16 times the mass of the Sun. This is the highest mass ever determined for a black hole of this category. Data have also revealed that the companion star has an unusual size, containing about 70 times the Sun's mass. The inset shows a Chandra/HST composite image.

Créditos:

Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/P.Plucinsky et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/SDSU/J.Orosz et al.

About the Image

Id:noaoann07032a
Tipo:Artwork
Release date:17 de Octubre de 2007 a las 18:00
Related announcements:noaoann07032
Size:5100 x 5100 px

Sobre el Objeto


Formatos de Imágenes

Large JPEGLarge JPEG
1,7 MB
Screensize JPEGScreensize JPEG
121,7 KB

Zoomable


Fondos de Pantalla

1024x7681024x768
133,8 KB
1280x10241280x1024
186,1 KB
1600x12001600x1200
243,7 KB
1920x12001920x1200
282,5 KB
2048x15362048x1536
2,0 MB