Conceptual illustration of a black hole X-ray binary. (IMAGE)

Ehime University

Conceptual illustration of a black hole X-ray binary.

Caption

The strong gravity of the black hole (shown as a small black dot at the center of the disk on the right) pulls gas from the companion star (left). As the gas spirals inward, it forms a high-temperature accretion disk around the black hole.

Credit

JAXA

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