Black Holes in Living Color

NASA/ESA, Jeffrey Kenney (Yale University), Elizabeth Yale (Yale University)

A supermassive black hole residing in the hub of the nearby galaxy called NGC 4438. Known as a peculiar galaxy because of its unusual shape, NGC 4438 is in the Virgo Cluster, 50 million light-years from Earth.

European Space Agency, NASA and Felix Mirabel (the French Atomic Energy Commission & the Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics/Conicet of Argentina)

Artist's impression shows a black hole and its yellow companion star being sent out on a long journey through the Milky Way galaxy by the explosive kick of a supernova.

The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) and NASA/ESA

Lying at the center of galaxy M87, a giant black hole has swallowed up matter equal to 2 billion times our Sun's mass. M87 is 50 million light-years from Earth.

The black hole-powered core of a nearby active galaxy 13 million light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus.

European Space Agency, NASA, Felix Mirabel and the Institute for Astronomy and Space Physics/Conicet of Argentina

GRO J1655-40 (in blue) is the second so-called 'microquasar' discovered in our Galaxy. Microquasars are black holes of about the same mass as a star.

NGC 7742, a spiral galaxy, known also as a Seyfert 2 active galaxy, a type of galaxy that is probably powered by a black hole residing in its core.

NASA/ESA, NRAO/AUI/NSF and W. Keel (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

A close-up of the spiral galaxy called 0313-192. Astronomers believe that jets of sub-atomic particles originate at the cores of galaxies, where supermassive black holes provide the gravitational energy to accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light.

The jet originating from the center of M87 in this image comes from an active galactic nucleus that may contain a supermassive black hole.

Roeland P. van der Marel (STScI), Frank C. van den Bosch (Univ. of Washington), and NASA/ESA.

Disk around a Black Hole in Galaxy NGC 7052

European Space Agency and Wolfram Freudling

Finding the ashes of the first stars [artist's impression]