Suzaku Catches Retreat of a Black Hole's Disk

    Studies of one of the galaxy's most active black-hole binaries reveal a dramatic change that will help scientists better understand how these systems expel fast-moving particle jets.

    GX 339-4, illustrated here, is among the most dynamic binaries in the sky, with four major outbursts in the past seven years. In the system, an evolved star no more massive than the sun orbits a black hole estimated at 10 solar masses. (12/10/2009)

    Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

    Comments and faves

    1. ★

      Bruno Dellani, From Afghanistan With Loveّ, erin leigh mcconnell, b.cx, and 49 other people added this photo to their favorites.

    2. makani5 (39 months ago | reply)

      beautiful

    3. sweetmikeysmom (39 months ago | reply)

      all I have to say is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...

    4. rick_fardy (37 months ago | reply)

      wow

    5. DÁlmeida (23 months ago | reply)

      Sem palavras, todos ficam atónitos, é este o segredo da vida, criar e destruir, nada é esterno, criar e destruir são complementares pois dependem um do outro, mas são fantásticos e espectaculares. Graças ao conhecimento, ao estudo continuado, ao desvendar constante, podemos ver este grande acontecimento. Fernando.

    6. pillu91 (18 months ago | reply)

      wow it is most amezing,, very beautiful,, wow thanks to NASA.......

    7. david260 (15 months ago | reply)

      Artists' renderings cannot be trusted to present the details of physical reality. Pretty, certainly. But they won't help to develop accurate intuition in bright youngsters who will become our future scientists. My fave 'fail' is all those sped-up movies of the Aurora shown often on TV. Makes you think the spectacle in the sky actually changes that quickly. My second-fave are documentaries that intermix artistic simulations with real life views of planets or whatever. You never know if what you are seeing is real or fake.

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