Supermassive Black Hole and a Binary Star (IMAGE)

University of Utah

Supermassive Black Hole and a Binary Star

Caption

Artist’s conception of a supermassive black hole (lower left) with its tremendous gravity capturing one star (bluish, center) from a pair of binary stars, while hurling the second star (yellowish, upper right) away at a hypervelocity of more than 1 million mph. The grayish blobs are other stars captured in a cluster near the black hole. They appear distorted because the black hole’s gravity curves spacetime and thus bends the starlight.

Credit

Ben Bromley, University of Utah.

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