Face-on View of Black Hole System (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Face-on View of Black Hole System

Caption

A face-on view of the system highlights the smaller black hole's distorted image (inset) of its bigger companion. To reach the camera, the smaller black hole must bend light from its red companion by 90 degrees. The accretion disk of this secondary image appears as a line, which means we're seeing an edge-on view of the red companion - while also simultaneously seeing it from above. A secondary image of the blue disk also forms just outside the bright ring of light nearest the larger black hole, too.

Credit

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman and Brian P. Powell

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