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1
Illustration of Sagittarius A*
This artist's illustration shows the environment around Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole found some 26,000 light years away at the center of our Galaxy. The red disk depicts hot gas that has been captured by the black hole and is being pulled inwards. The source of the hot gas is young, massive stars, shown in blue, orbiting around Sgr A*. The illustration also shows a large amount of material being thrown outwards, a key factor in explaining why there is so little radiation from material near black holes.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
This artist's illustration shows the environment around Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole found some 26,000 light years away at the center of our Galaxy. The red disk depicts hot gas that has been captured by the black hole and is being pulled inwards. The source of the hot gas is young, massive stars, shown in blue, orbiting around Sgr A*. The illustration also shows a large amount of material being thrown outwards, a key factor in explaining why there is so little radiation from material near black holes.
(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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X-ray & Infrared Images of NGC 6240
During 2012, Chandra collected about five weeks worth of observations on Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*, for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. These images show the region around Sagittarius A* as seen in a wider-field view of X-rays by Chandra and infrared emission from Hubble, as well as a Chandra-only image just half a light year across. The diffuse X-ray emission in this close-up is from hot gas captured by the black hole and being pulled inwards. Less than 1% of this material reaches the black hole's event horizon, or point of no return, because much of it is ejected.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al., IR: NASA/STScI)
During 2012, Chandra collected about five weeks worth of observations on Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*, for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. These images show the region around Sagittarius A* as seen in a wider-field view of X-rays by Chandra and infrared emission from Hubble, as well as a Chandra-only image just half a light year across. The diffuse X-ray emission in this close-up is from hot gas captured by the black hole and being pulled inwards. Less than 1% of this material reaches the black hole's event horizon, or point of no return, because much of it is ejected.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/UMass/D.Wang et al., IR: NASA/STScI)
Return to Sagittarius A* (August 29, 2013)
Revised: November 30, 2022