Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2020 March 11

                       An Extreme Black Hole Outburst
     Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/NRL/S. Giacintucci, et al.,
        XMM-Newton: ESA/XMM-Newton; Radio: NCRA/TIFR/GMRT; Infrared:
     2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF; Text: Michael F. Corcoran (NASA,
                            Catholic U., HEAPOW)

   Explanation: Astronomers believe they have now found the most powerful
   example of a black hole outburst yet seen in our Universe. The
   composite, false-color featured image is of a cluster of galaxies in
   the constellation of Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer. The composite
   includes X-ray images (from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and
   XMM-Newton) in purple, and a radio image (from India's Giant Metrewave
   Radio Telescope) in blue (along with an infrared image of the galaxies
   and stars in the field in white for good measure). The dashed line
   marks the border of a cavity blown out by the supermassive black hole
   which lurks at the center of the galaxy marked by the cross. Radio
   emission fills this cavity. This big blowout is believed to be due to
   the black hole eating too much and experiencing a transient bout of
   "black hole nausea", which resulted in the ejection of a powerful radio
   jet blasting into intergalactic space. The amount of energy needed to
   blow this cavity is equivalent to about 10 billion supernova
   explosions.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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