Image shows an artist’s impression of a black hole, similar to V404 Cyg, devouring material from an orbiting companion star. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
Violent red flashes, lasting just fractions of a second, have been observed during one of the brightest black hole outbursts in recent years. June 2015, a black hole called V404 Cygni underwent dramatic brightening for about 2 weeks, as it devoured material that it had stripped off an orbiting companion star. V404 Cygni, which is ~7,800 light years from Earth, was the first definitive black hole to be identified in our Galaxy and can appear extremely bright when it is actively devouring material.
The astronomers associated the red colour with fast-moving jets of matter that were ejected from close to the black hole...
Read More
Recent Comments