{ "id": 40213, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/swift-black-holes/", "page_type": "Gallery", "title": "Swift: Black Holes", "description": "No description available.", "release_date": "2014-11-13T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-01-21T00:00:00-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 858863, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/Swift--Main/Swift-Black_Holes.jpg", "filename": "Swift-Black_Holes.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 }, "media_groups": [ { "id": 370843, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/swift-black-holes/#media_group_370843", "widget": "Tile gallery", "title": "Visuals", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 446957, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14719, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14719/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Swift Studies Gas-Churning Monster Black Holes", "description": "Watch as a gas cloud encounters two supermassive black holes. The complex interplay of gravitational and frictional forces causes the cloud to condense and heat. Some of the gas is ejected from the system with each orbit of the black holes.Credit: F. Goicovic et al. 2016Music: \"Forgotten Fortunes,\" Magnum Opus [ASCAP] , Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || Sim_Video_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [744.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [37.6 KB] || Sim_Video_Still_thm.png (80x40) [3.4 KB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_1080_Final.mp4 (1920x1080) [38.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final.mp4 (3840x2160) [45.5 MB] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_best.mp4 (3840x2160) [67.9 MB] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.srt [57 bytes] || 14719_BinaryBHTDE_Captions.en_US.vtt [67 bytes] || BH_Binary_TD_Sim_4k_Final_ProRes.mov (3840x2160) [1.5 GB] || ", "release_date": "2024-11-13T09:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-11-12T14:08:08.171699-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1138973, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014700/a014719/Sim_Video_Still_searchweb.png", "filename": "Sim_Video_Still_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch as a gas cloud encounters two supermassive black holes. The complex interplay of gravitational and frictional forces causes the cloud to condense and heat. Some of the gas is ejected from the system with each orbit of the black holes.Credit: F. Goicovic et al. 2016Music: \"Forgotten Fortunes,\" Magnum Opus [ASCAP] , Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 407000, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14408, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14408/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift Spots a Snacking Black Hole Using a New Trick", "description": "Watch to learn how an update to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory allowed it to catch a supersized black hole in a distant galaxy munching repeatedly on a circling star. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Teapot Waltz\" by Benjamin Parsons from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Repeating_TDE_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [446.8 KB] || Repeating_TDE_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [63.3 KB] || Repeating_TDE_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.6 KB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_sub100.mp4 (1920x1080) [89.7 MB] || Repeating_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [1.7 KB] || Repeating_TDE_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [1.6 KB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [1.2 GB] || 14408_Repeating_TDE_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [186.2 MB] || ", "release_date": "2023-09-07T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-09-05T13:17:48.487954-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 858396, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014400/a014408/Repeating_TDE_Still.jpg", "filename": "Repeating_TDE_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch to learn how an update to NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory allowed it to catch a supersized black hole in a distant galaxy munching repeatedly on a circling star. \rCredit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center\rMusic: \"Teapot Waltz\" by Benjamin Parsons from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407001, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 14148, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14148/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Magnetic Flip Drives Flare-Up of Monster Black Hole", "description": "Explore the unusual eruption of 1ES 1927+654, a galaxy located 236 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. A sudden reversal of the magnetic field around its million-solar-mass black hole may have triggered the outburst.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Water Dance\" and \"Alternate Worlds\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || ChangingLookAGN_Still1.jpg (1920x1080) [822.9 KB] || ChangingLookAGN_Still1_searchweb.png (320x180) [79.5 KB] || ChangingLookAGN_Still1_thm.png (80x40) [6.2 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_1080.webm (1920x1080) [24.8 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_Sub100MB.mp4 (1920x1080) [91.5 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [246.5 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_Best_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [534.7 MB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [4.2 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [4.3 KB] || 14148_ChangingLook_AGN_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.2 GB] || ", "release_date": "2022-05-05T12:45:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T11:44:10.289369-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 371649, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014100/a014148/ChangingLookAGN_Still1.jpg", "filename": "ChangingLookAGN_Still1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Explore the unusual eruption of 1ES 1927+654, a galaxy located 236 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. A sudden reversal of the magnetic field around its million-solar-mass black hole may have triggered the outburst.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Water Dance\" and \"Alternate Worlds\" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407002, "type": "media_group", "extra_data": null, "title": "Swift Links Neutrino to Star-destroying Black Hole", "caption": "For only the second time, astronomers have linked an elusive particle called a high-energy neutrino to an object outside our galaxy. Using ground- and space-based facilities, including NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, they traced the neutrino to a black hole tearing apart a star, a rare cataclysmic occurrence called a tidal disruption event.\r\n\r\nNeutrinos are fundamental particles that far outnumber all the atoms in the universe but rarely interact with other matter. Astrophysicists are particularly interested in high-energy neutrinos, which have energies up to 1,000 times greater than those produced by the most powerful particle colliders on Earth. They think the most extreme events in the universe, like violent galactic outbursts, accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. Those particles then collide with light or other particles to generate high-energy neutrinos. The first confirmed high-energy neutrino source, announced in 2018, was a type of active galaxy called a blazar. \r\n\r\nTidal disruption events occur when an unlucky star strays too close to a black hole. Gravitational forces create intense tides that break the star apart into a stream of gas. The trailing part of the stream escapes the system, while the leading part swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. In some cases, the black hole launches fast-moving particle jets. Scientists hypothesized that tidal disruptions would produce high-energy neutrinos within such particle jets. They also expected the events would produce neutrinos early in their evolution, at peak brightness, whatever the particles’ production process. \r\n\r\nTidal disruption event AT2019dsg was discovered on April 9, 2019, by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a robotic camera at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in Southern California. The event occurred over 690 million light-years away in a galaxy called 2MASX J20570298+1412165, located in the constellation Delphinus. \r\n\r\nAs part of a routine follow-up survey of tidal disruptions, scientists requested visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray observations with Swift. They also took X-ray measurements using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite and radio measurements with facilities including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico, and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory's MeerKAT telescope. \r\n\r\nPeak brightness came and went in May. No clear jet appeared. According to theoretical predictions, AT2019dsg was looking like a poor neutrino candidate. \r\n\r\nThen, on Oct. 1, 2019, the National Science Foundation’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica detected a high-energy neutrino called IC191001A and backtracked along its trajectory to a location in the sky. About seven hours later, ZTF noted that this same patch of sky included AT2019dsg. Astronomers think there is only one chance in 500 that the tidal disruption is not the neutrino’s source. Because the detection came about five months after the event reached peak brightness, it raises questions about when and how these occurrences produce neutrinos.", "instance": { "id": 380033, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013800/a013805/AT2019dsg_prores_still_searchweb.png", "filename": "AT2019dsg_prores_still_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "For only the second time, astronomers have linked an elusive particle called a high-energy neutrino to an object outside our galaxy. Using ground- and space-based facilities, including NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, they traced the neutrino to a black hole tearing apart a star, a rare cataclysmic occurrence called a tidal disruption event.\r\n\r\nNeutrinos are fundamental particles that far outnumber all the atoms in the universe but rarely interact with other matter. Astrophysicists are particularly interested in high-energy neutrinos, which have energies up to 1,000 times greater than those produced by the most powerful particle colliders on Earth. They think the most extreme events in the universe, like violent galactic outbursts, accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. Those particles then collide with light or other particles to generate high-energy neutrinos. The first confirmed high-energy neutrino source, announced in 2018, was a type of active galaxy called a blazar. \r\n\r\nTidal disruption events occur when an unlucky star strays too close to a black hole. Gravitational forces create intense tides that break the star apart into a stream of gas. The trailing part of the stream escapes the system, while the leading part swings back around, surrounding the black hole with a disk of debris. In some cases, the black hole launches fast-moving particle jets. Scientists hypothesized that tidal disruptions would produce high-energy neutrinos within such particle jets. They also expected the events would produce neutrinos early in their evolution, at peak brightness, whatever the particles’ production process. \r\n\r\nTidal disruption event AT2019dsg was discovered on April 9, 2019, by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a robotic camera at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in Southern California. The event occurred over 690 million light-years away in a galaxy called 2MASX J20570298+1412165, located in the constellation Delphinus. \r\n\r\nAs part of a routine follow-up survey of tidal disruptions, scientists requested visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray observations with Swift. They also took X-ray measurements using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite and radio measurements with facilities including the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico, and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory's MeerKAT telescope. \r\n\r\nPeak brightness came and went in May. No clear jet appeared. According to theoretical predictions, AT2019dsg was looking like a poor neutrino candidate. \r\n\r\nThen, on Oct. 1, 2019, the National Science Foundation’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica detected a high-energy neutrino called IC191001A and backtracked along its trajectory to a location in the sky. About seven hours later, ZTF noted that this same patch of sky included AT2019dsg. Astronomers think there is only one chance in 500 that the tidal disruption is not the neutrino’s source. Because the detection came about five months after the event reached peak brightness, it raises questions about when and how these occurrences produce neutrinos.", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 407003, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 13798, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13798/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift, TESS Catch Eruptions from an Active Galaxy", "description": "Watch as a monster black hole partially consumes an orbiting giant star. In this illustration, the gas pulled from the star collides with the black hole’s debris disk and causes a flare. Astronomers have named this repeating event ASASSN-14ko. The flares are the most predictable and frequent yet seen from an active galaxy. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Ruminations\" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available. || periodic_AGN_still.jpg (1920x1080) [512.8 KB] || periodic_AGN_still_print.jpg (1024x576) [229.4 KB] || periodic_AGN_still_searchweb.png (320x180) [77.1 KB] || periodic_AGN_still_web.png (320x180) [77.1 KB] || periodic_AGN_still_thm.png (80x40) [6.3 KB] || periodic_AGN_HQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [230.6 MB] || periodic_AGN_LQ.mp4 (1920x1080) [123.5 MB] || periodic_AGN_prores.mov (1920x1080) [1.3 GB] || periodic_AGN_LQ.webm (1920x1080) [13.2 MB] || periodic_AGN_prores.mov.en_US.srt [1.6 KB] || periodic_AGN_prores.mov.en_US.vtt [1.6 KB] || ", "release_date": "2021-01-12T12:15:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:44:23.828293-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 380377, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013700/a013798/periodic_AGN_still.jpg", "filename": "periodic_AGN_still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch as a monster black hole partially consumes an orbiting giant star. In this illustration, the gas pulled from the star collides with the black hole’s debris disk and causes a flare. Astronomers have named this repeating event ASASSN-14ko. The flares are the most predictable and frequent yet seen from an active galaxy. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Ruminations\" from Universal Production MusicComplete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407004, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12855, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12855/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Mysterious ‘Cow’ Blast Studied with NASA Telescopes", "description": "Watch what scientists think happens when a black hole tears apart a hot, dense white dwarf star. A team working with observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory suggest this process explains a mysterious outburst known as AT2018cow. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Curious Events\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the JPL YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3_print.jpg (1024x576) [66.0 KB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3.jpg (3840x2160) [494.0 KB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3_searchweb.png (320x180) [56.8 KB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3_thm.png (80x40) [5.5 KB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [116.5 MB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [161.2 MB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_1080.webm (1920x1080) [13.2 MB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_ProRes_3840x2160.mov (3840x2160) [4.7 GB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_4k.mp4 (3840x2160) [436.5 MB] || AT2018COW_Labeled_Music_Intro_3_4K.mov (3840x2160) [241.6 MB] || AT2018COW_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [1.2 KB] || AT2018COW_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [1.3 KB] || ", "release_date": "2019-01-10T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:46:09.584975-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 397979, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012800/a012855/AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3_print.jpg", "filename": "AT2018COW_Labeled_Still_3_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Watch what scientists think happens when a black hole tears apart a hot, dense white dwarf star. A team working with observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory suggest this process explains a mysterious outburst known as AT2018cow. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"Curious Events\" from Killer TracksWatch this video on the JPL YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 407005, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12499, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12499/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift Charts a Star's 'Death Spiral' into Black Hole", "description": "This animation illustrates how debris from a tidally disrupted star collides with itself, creating shock waves that emit ultraviolet and optical light far from the black hole. According to Swift observations of ASASSN-14li, these clumps took about a month to fall back to the black hole, where they produced changes in the X-ray emission that correlated with the earlier UV and optical changes.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel. || TD_Shocks_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [115.2 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still.png (3840x2160) [32.6 MB] || TD_Shocks_Still.jpg (3840x2160) [922.7 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [59.5 KB] || TD_Shocks_Still_thm.png (80x40) [4.8 KB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_1080.mov (1920x1080) [50.7 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [25.7 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Good_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [44.4 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [25.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [10.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_HD.wmv (1920x1080) [6.9 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_Compatible.webm (960x540) [3.8 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_VX-280970_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [25.2 MB] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [509 bytes] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [522 bytes] || 12499_Tidal_Disruption_Shocks_at_Apocenter_FINAL_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [591.1 MB] || ", "release_date": "2017-03-20T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-10-06T23:41:33.941280-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 416492, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012400/a012499/TD_Shocks_Still_print.jpg", "filename": "TD_Shocks_Still_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation illustrates how debris from a tidally disrupted star collides with itself, creating shock waves that emit ultraviolet and optical light far from the black hole. According to Swift observations of ASASSN-14li, these clumps took about a month to fall back to the black hole, where they produced changes in the X-ray emission that correlated with the earlier UV and optical changes.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 407006, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12265, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12265/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "X-ray Echoes Map a 'Killer' Black Hole", "description": "NASA Goddard astronomer Erin Kara discusses the discovery of X-ray echoes from Swift J1644+57, a black hole that shattered a passing star. X-rays produced by flares near this million-solar-mass black hole bounced off the nascent accretion disk and revealed its structure. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"The Orion Arm\" and \"Particle Acceleration\" both from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || TD_Still.png (1920x1080) [11.0 MB] || TD_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [109.7 KB] || TD_Still_searchweb.png (180x320) [91.6 KB] || TD_Still_thm.png (80x40) [7.0 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_ProRes_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [3.8 GB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.6 GB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-HD_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [443.2 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_Devices_Best.m4v (1920x1080) [295.2 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [150.6 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_HD_Compatible.m4v (960x540) [118.9 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [150.7 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2-Apple_HD_Compatible.webm (960x540) [31.7 MB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [5.3 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [5.3 KB] || 12265_BH_Echoes_FINAL2_lowres.mp4 (480x272) [39.9 MB] || ", "release_date": "2016-06-22T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:48:31.801963-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 423280, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012200/a012265/TD_Still.png", "filename": "TD_Still.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "NASA Goddard astronomer Erin Kara discusses the discovery of X-ray echoes from Swift J1644+57, a black hole that shattered a passing star. X-rays produced by flares near this million-solar-mass black hole bounced off the nascent accretion disk and revealed its structure. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: \"The Orion Arm\" and \"Particle Acceleration\" both from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407007, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10807, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10807/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Swift Satellite Spots Black Hole Devouring A Star", "description": "In late March 2011, NASA's Swift satellite alerted astronomers to intense and unusual high-energy flares from a new source in the constellation Draco. They soon realized that the source, which is now known as Swift J1644+57, was the result of a truly extraordinary event — the awakening of a distant galaxy's dormant black hole as it shredded and consumed a star. The galaxy is so far away that the radiation from the blast has traveled 3.9 billion years before reaching Earth. Most galaxies, including our own, possess a central supersized black hole weighing millions of times the sun's mass. According to the new studies, the black hole in the galaxy hosting Swift J1644+57 may be twice the mass of the four-million-solar-mass black hole lurking at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. As a star falls toward a black hole, it is ripped apart by intense tides. The gas is corralled into a disk that swirls around the black hole and becomes rapidly heated to temperatures of millions of degrees. The innermost gas in the disk spirals toward the black hole, where rapid motion and magnetism creates dual, oppositely directed \"funnels\" through which some particles may escape. Particle jets driving matter at velocities greater than 80-90 percent the speed of light form along the black hole's spin axis. In the case of Swift J1644+57, one of these jets happened to point straight at Earth.Theoretical studies of tidally disrupted stars suggested that they would appear as flares at optical and ultraviolet energies. The brightness and energy of a black hole's jet is greatly enhanced when viewed head-on. The phenomenon, called relativistic beaming, explains why Swift J1644+57 was seen at X-ray energies and appeared so strikingly luminous. When first detected on March 28, the flares were initially assumed to signal a gamma-ray burst, one of the nearly daily short blasts of high-energy radiation often associated with the death of a massive star and the birth of a black hole in the distant universe. But as the emission continued to brighten and flare, astronomers realized that the most plausible explanation was the tidal disruption of a sun-like star seen as beamed emission. || ", "release_date": "2011-08-24T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:40.776982-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 484419, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010807/BlackHoleAnimation_00730.jpg", "filename": "BlackHoleAnimation_00730.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "On March 28, 2011, NASA's Swift detected intense X-ray flares thought to be caused by a black hole devouring a star. In one model, illustrated here, a sun-like star on an eccentric orbit plunges too close to its galaxy's central black hole. About half of the star's mass feeds an accretion disk around the black hole, which in turn powers a particle jet that beams radiation toward Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 407008, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 12005, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12005/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star", "description": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disk glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, its central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [172.7 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [606.7 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_web.png (320x180) [98.5 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [98.4 KB] || APPLE_TV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [37.5 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.mp4 (1920x1080) [40.5 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_MPEG4_1920X1080_2997.webm (1920x1080) [7.7 MB] || WMV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_HD.wmv (1920x1080) [49.6 MB] || APPLE_TV_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [37.4 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [261 bytes] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_lowres.mp4 (480x272) [10.6 MB] || NASA_PODCAST_12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [12.3 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [248 bytes] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [2.1 GB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_H264_Good_1920x1080_2997.mov (1920x1080) [301.2 MB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_FINAL_youtube_hq.mov (1920x1080) [1.3 GB] || 12005_Swift_Tidal_Music_H264_Best_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [2.5 GB] || ", "release_date": "2015-10-21T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:49:12.574389-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 439527, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012000/a012005/Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still.jpg", "filename": "Swift_Tidal_Disruption_2_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disk glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, its central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407009, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 20228, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20228/", "page_type": "Animation", "title": "Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star (Animation Only)", "description": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disc glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, it's central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_print.jpg (1024x576) [119.5 KB] || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_searchweb.png (320x180) [88.0 KB] || BlackHoleAnimation.1675_thm.png (80x40) [5.9 KB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.webm (1920x1080) [4.8 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_60p (1920x1080) [256.0 KB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_ProRes_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [1.4 GB] || 20228_Swift_Tidal_H264_1920x1080_5994.mov (1920x1080) [813.8 MB] || ", "release_date": "2016-04-06T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:48:44.322285-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 439588, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a020000/a020200/a020228/BlackHoleAnimation.1675_print.jpg", "filename": "BlackHoleAnimation.1675_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A star approaching too close to a massive black hole is torn apart by tidal forces, as shown in this artist's rendering. Filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disc glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, it's central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 407010, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11108, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11108/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "X-ray Nova Reveals a New Black Hole in Our Galaxy", "description": "On Sept. 16, NASA's Swift satellite detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole. An X-ray nova is a short-lived X-ray source that appears suddenly, reaches its emission peak in a few days and then fades out over a period of months. The outburst arises when a torrent of stored gas suddenly rushes toward one of the most compact objects known, either a neutron star or a black hole. Named Swift J1745-26 after the coordinates of its sky position, the nova is located a few degrees from the center of our galaxy toward the constellation Sagittarius. While astronomers do not know its precise distance, they think the object resides about 20,000 to 30,000 light-years away in the galaxy's inner region. The pattern of X-rays from the nova signals that the central object is a black hole.Ground-based observatories detected infrared and radio emissions, but thick clouds of obscuring dust have prevented astronomers from catching Swift J1745-26 in visible light.The black hole must be a member of a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system, which includes a normal, sun-like star. A stream of gas flows from the normal star and enters into a storage disk around the black hole. In most LMXBs, the gas in the disk spirals inward, heats up as it heads toward the black hole, and produces a steady stream of X-rays. But under certain conditions, stable flow within the disk depends on the rate of matter flowing into it from the companion star. At certain rates, the disk fails to maintain a steady internal flow and instead flips between two dramatically different conditions — a cooler, less ionized state where gas simply collects in the outer portion of the disk like water behind a dam, and a hotter, more ionized state that sends a tidal wave of gas surging toward the center.This phenomenon, called the thermal-viscous limit cycle, helps astronomers explain transient outbursts across a wide range of systems, from protoplanetary disks around young stars, to dwarf novae - where the central object is a white dwarf star - and even bright emission from supermassive black holes in the hearts of distant galaxies. || ", "release_date": "2012-10-05T13:29:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:43.179352-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 471665, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011108/BlackHole_00590.jpg", "filename": "BlackHole_00590.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Short narrated video.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407011, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11110, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11110/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "X-ray Nova Flaring Black Hole animation", "description": "An X-ray nova is a short-lived X-ray source that appears suddenly, reaches its emission peak in a few days and then fades out over a period of months. The outburst arises when a torrent of stored gas suddenly rushes toward one of the most compact objects known, either a neutron star or a black hole. || ", "release_date": "2012-10-05T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:43.076403-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 471762, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011110/BlackHole_01170.jpg", "filename": "BlackHole_01170.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Artist's interpretation of Swift J1745-26, a newly discovered black hole with a flaring accretion disk.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 407012, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11162, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11162/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Astronomers Catch a Jet from a Binge-eating Black Hole", "description": "In January 2012, a new X-ray source flared and rapidly brightened in the Andromeda galaxy (M31), located 2.5 million light-years away. Classified as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), the object is only the second ever seen in M31 and became the target of an intense observing campaign by orbiting X-ray telescopes — including NASA's Swift — and radio observatories on the ground. These efforts resulted in the first detection of radio-emitting jets from a stellar-mass black hole outside our own galaxy. A ULX is thought to be a binary system containing a black hole that is rapidly accreting gas from its stellar companion. However, to account for the brilliant high-energy output, gas must be flowing into the black hole at a rate very near a theoretical maximum, a feeding frenzy that astronomers do not yet fully understand. As gas spirals toward a black hole, it becomes compressed and heated, eventually reaching temperatures where it emits X-rays. As the rate of matter ingested by the black hole increases, so does the X-ray brightness of the gas. At some point, the X-ray emission becomes so intense that it pushes back on the inflowing gas, theoretically capping any further increase in the black hole's accretion rate. Astronomers refer to this as the Eddington limit, after Sir Arthur Eddington, the British astrophysicist who first recognized a similar cutoff to the maximum luminosity of a star. Black-hole binaries in our galaxy that show accretion at the Eddington limit also exhibit powerful radio-emitting jets that move near the speed of light. Although astronomers know little about the physical nature of these jets, detecting them at all would confirm that the ULX is accreting at the limit and identify it as a stellar mass black hole. The European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory first detected the ULX, dubbed XMMU J004243.6+412519 after its astronomical coordinates, on Jan. 15. Middleton and a large international team then began monitoring it at X-ray energies using XMM-Newton and NASA's Swift satellite and Chandra X-ray Observatory. The scientists conducted radio observations using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the continent-spanning Very Long Baseline Array, both operated by the National Science Foundation in Socorro, N.M., and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array located at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory near Cambridge, England. In a paper published online by the journal Nature on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, the scientists reveal their successful detection of intense radio emission associated with a jet moving at more than 85 percent the speed of light. VLA data reveal that the radio emission was quite variable, in one instance decreasing by a factor of two in just half an hour. This tells astronomers that the region producing radio waves is extremely small in size — no farther across than the distance between Jupiter and the sun. Black holes have been conclusively detected in two varieties: \"lightweight\" ones created by stars and containing up to a few dozen times the sun's mass, and supermassive \"heavyweights\" of millions to billions of solar masses found at the centers of most big galaxies. Astronomers have debated whether many ULXs represent hard-to-find \"middleweight\" versions, containing hundreds to thousands of solar masses. || ", "release_date": "2012-12-12T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:52:31.654828-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 469890, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011162/M31_Optical_XMM_labels.jpg", "filename": "M31_Optical_XMM_labels.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This image composites XMM-Newton X-ray data onto an optical view of the Andromeda galaxy; the ULX is circled. Colors in the XMM image correspond to different X-ray energies: 0.2 to 1 keV (red), 1 to 2 keV (green) and 2 to 4.5 keV (blue). LabelsInset: ESA/M. Middleton et al.; background: Bill Schoening, Vanessa Harvey/REU program/NOAO/AURA/NSF", "width": 3072, "height": 1729, "pixels": 5311488 } } }, { "id": 407013, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10253, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10253/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Scientists Watch Baby Black Hole Get to Work Fast", "description": "Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite say they have found newborn black holes, just seconds old, in a confused state of existence, sloppily gorging on material falling into them while somehow propelling other material away at great speeds. These black holes are born in massive star explosions. An initial blast obliterates the star. Yet the chaotic black hole activity appears to re-energize the explosion again and again over the course of several minutes. This is a dramatically different view of star death, one that entails multiple explosive outbursts and not just a single bang, as previously thought.When a massive star runs out of fuel, it no longer has the energy to support its mass. The core collapses and forms a black hole. Shockwaves bounce out and obliterate the outer shells of the star. Previously scientists thought that a single explosion is followed by a graceful afterglow of the dying embers. Now, according to Swift observations, it appears that a newborn black hole in the core somehow re-energizes the explosion again and again, creating multiple bursts all within a few minutes. || ", "release_date": "2008-09-26T01:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:04.182076-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 501752, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010200/a010253/Supernova_Birth_of_a_Black_Hole_320x24000377_print.jpg", "filename": "Supernova_Birth_of_a_Black_Hole_320x24000377_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation depicts what happens to the most massive stars when they die.", "width": 1024, "height": 768, "pixels": 786432 } } }, { "id": 407014, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11118, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11118/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift Catches X-ray Activity at the Galaxy's Center", "description": "A seven-year campaign to monitor the center of our galaxy with NASA's Swift spacecraft has provided astronomers with a unique bounty, more than doubling the number of bright X-ray flares observed from our galaxy's central black hole and leading to the discovery of a rare type of neutron star.The innermost region of our galaxy lies 26,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. At the center of it all lurks Sgr A* (pronounced \"saj a-star\"), a behemoth black hole containing 4 million times the sun's mass.Sgr A* regularly produces bright X-ray flares today, but astronomers know it was much more active in the past. To better understand its long-term behavior, the Swift team began regular observations of the galactic center in February 2006. Every few days, the spacecraft turns toward the inmost galaxy and takes a 17-minute-long \"snapshot\" with its X-Ray Telescope (XRT). Swift's XRT has now detected six bright flares, during which the black hole's X-ray emission brightened by up to 150 times for a couple of hours. These new detections, in addition to four found by other spacecraft, enabled astronomers to estimate that similar flares occur every five to 10 days. The Swift XRT team is on the lookout for the first sign that a small cold gas cloud named G2, which is swinging near Sgr A*, has begun emitting X-rays. This is expected to start sometime in spring 2014. The event will unfold for years and may fuel strong activity from the monster black hole. The monitoring campaign has already yielded one important discovery: SGR J1745-29, an object called a magnetar. This subclass of neutron star has a magnetic field thousands of times stronger than normal; so far, only 26 magnetars are known. A magnetar orbiting Sgr A* may allow scientists to explore important properties of the black hole and test predictions of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. || ", "release_date": "2014-01-08T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:51:19.519760-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 459526, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011118/Swift_SgrA_Still_web.jpg", "filename": "Swift_SgrA_Still_web.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This sequence from the X-ray Telescope on NASA’s Swift mission shows changes in the central region of the Milky Way galaxy from 2006 through 2013. Watch for flares from binary systems containing a neutron star or black hole and the changing brightness of Sgr A* (center), the galaxy’s monster black hole.Credit: NASA/Swift/N. Degenaar (Univ. of Michigan)", "width": 319, "height": 217, "pixels": 69223 } } }, { "id": 407015, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10549, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10549/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift Survey Finds 'Smoking Gun' of Black Hole Activation", "description": "Astronomers using X-ray data from an ongoing survey by NASA's Swift satellite have solved a decades-long mystery. Why, when most galaxies host giant black holes in their centers, do only about one percent of them emit vast amounts of energy? The new findings confirm that the black holes \"light up\" when galaxies collide — and may offer insight into the future behavior of the black hole in our own galaxy. The intense emission from galaxy centers, or nuclei, arises near a supermassive black hole containing between a million and a billion times the sun's mass. Giving off as much as 10 billion times the sun's energy, some of these active galactic nuclei (AGN) — a class that includes quasars and blazars — are the most luminous objects in the universe. || ", "release_date": "2010-05-26T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:13.611709-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 492534, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010549/10549_Swift_AGU_Still.png", "filename": "10549_Swift_AGU_Still.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This simulation follows the collision of two spiral galaxies that harbor giant black holes. The collision merges the black holes and stirs up gas in both galaxies. The merged black hole gorges on the feast and lights up, forming an active galactic nucleus called a quasar and creating a \"wind\" that blows away much of the galaxy's gas. See the original animation at: http://web.phys.cmu.edu/~tiziana/BHGrow/.Credit:Volker Springel and Tiziana Di Matteo (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics), Lars Hernquist (Harvard Univ.)", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 407016, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10795, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10795/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Nearby Galaxy Boasts Two Monster Black Holes, Both Active", "description": "A study using NASA's Swift satellite and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a second supersized black hole at the heart of an unusual nearby galaxy already known to be sporting one. The galaxy, which is known as Markarian 739 or NGC 3758, lies 425 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo. Only about 11,000 light-years separate the two cores, each of which contains a black hole gorging on infalling gas. Astronomers refer to galaxy centers exhibiting such intense emission as active galactic nuclei (AGN). Yet as common as monster black holes are, only about one percent of them are currently powerful AGN. Binary AGN are rarer still: Markarian 739 is only the second identified within half a billion light-years.Many scientists think that disruptive events like galaxy collisions trigger AGN to switch on by sending large amounts of gas toward the black hole. As the gas spirals inward, it becomes extremely hot and radiates huge amounts of energy. || ", "release_date": "2011-06-10T14:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:45.454499-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 485063, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010700/a010795/10795_Dual_AGN_Still_1.jpg", "filename": "10795_Dual_AGN_Still_1.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Zoom into Markarian 739, a nearby galaxy hosting two monster black holes. Using NASA's Swift and Chandra, astronomers have shown that both black holes are producing energy as gas falls into them. The object is only the second-known binary active galactic nucleus within half a billion light-years.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 407017, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10698, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10698/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "NASA's Swift Finds 'Missing' Active Galaxies", "description": "Most large galaxies contain a giant central black hole. In an active galaxy, matter falling toward the supermassive black hole powers high-energy emissions so intense that two classes of active galaxies, quasars and blazars, rank as the most luminous objects in the universe. Thick clouds of dust and gas near the central black hole screens out ultraviolet, optical and low-energy (or soft) X-ray light. Although there are many different types of active galaxy, astronomers explain the different observed properties based on how the galaxy angles into our line of sight. We view the brightest ones nearly face on, but as the angle increases, the surrounding ring of gas and dust absorbs increasing amounts of the black hole's emissions. || ", "release_date": "2011-01-20T09:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:55.051582-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 488776, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010600/a010698/AGN_edge_1280x720.jpg", "filename": "AGN_edge_1280x720.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "View of AGN with center occluded by edge", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 407018, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 11948, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11948/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "X-ray Echoes Create a Black Hole Bull's-eye", "description": "Rings of X-ray light centered on V404 Cygni, a binary system containing an erupting black hole (dot at center), were imaged by the X-ray Telescope aboard NASA's Swift satellite from June 30 to July 4. A narrow gap splits the middle ring in two. Color indicates the energy of the X-rays, with red representing the lowest (800 to 1,500 electron volts, eV), green for medium (1,500 to 2,500 eV), and the most energetic (2,500 to 5,000 eV) shown in blue. For comparison, visible light has energies ranging from about 2 to 3 eV. The dark lines running diagonally through the image are artifacts of the imaging system.Credit: Andrew Beardmore (Univ. of Leicester) and NASA/Swift || rings_1080.gif (1080x1080) [1.3 MB] || ", "release_date": "2015-07-09T13:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:49:36.511961-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 442081, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011900/a011948/pc_halo2_dpi500_print.jpg", "filename": "pc_halo2_dpi500_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Swift XRT image of V404 Cygni showing the acquired at 10:51 UT on July 2, 2015. The exposure was about 27 minutes. Additional information is the same as above. Credit: Andrew Beardmore (Univ. of Leicester) and NASA/Swift", "width": 1024, "height": 1024, "pixels": 1048576 } } }, { "id": 407019, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10561, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10561/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Central Engine Supernova", "description": "In March 2009, NASA's Swift observed the supernova SN 2009bb in the spiral galaxy NGC 3278. The explosion is apparent in visible light, but not at ultraviolet and X-ray energies, and satellites recorded no gamma-ray burst. Nevertheless, particle jets reaching 85 percent the speed of light accompanied the explosion. Astronomers believe these jets are powered by a \"central engine\" — likely a newborn black hole at the star's center, a scenario that also fits most gamma-ray bursts. || ", "release_date": "2010-01-27T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:22.993909-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 494316, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010561/NGC_3278_still_for_video.jpg", "filename": "NGC_3278_still_for_video.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This video labels the galaxy and supernova, and moves through visible, ultraviolet and X-ray images.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 407020, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10082, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10082/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Swift Probes Exotic Object: 'Kicked' Black Hole or Mega Star?", "description": "Zoom into Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 and see how they compare with a simulated galaxy collision. When the central black holes in these galaxies combine, a \"kick\" launches the merged black hole on a wide orbit taking it far from the galaxy's core. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/L. Blecha (UMD) || Zoom_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [363.8 KB] || Zoom_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [137.1 KB] || Zoom_Still_web.png (320x180) [60.9 KB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.mp4 (1920x1080) [31.7 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Good_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [68.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_Best_1920x1080_29.97.mov (1920x1080) [278.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_MPEG4_1920x1080_29.97.webmhd.webm (960x540) [13.2 MB] || SDSS1133_Zoom-Simulation_H264_640x360_29.97_iPhone.m4v (640x360) [10.9 MB] || ", "release_date": "2014-11-19T10:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:50:18.806722-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 449713, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010000/a010082/Simulation-vs-KeckII_1080.jpg", "filename": "Simulation-vs-KeckII_1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A simulation of two colliding galaxies (left) shows how their coalescing supermassive black holes can launch the resulting larger black hole (dot, lower left) on a wide orbit. Right: Compare the simulation with this Keck II near-infrared image of Markarian 177 and SDSS1133 (lower left). Credit: Simulation, L. Blecha (UMD); image, W. M. Keck Observatory/M. Koss (ETH Zurich) et al.", "width": 2048, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2211840 } } } ], "extra_data": {} } ] }