X-ray Nova Flaring Black Hole animation

  • Released Friday, October 5, 2012
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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.

Artist's interpretation of Swift J1745-26, a newly discovered black hole with a flaring accretion disk.

Additional still from animation

Additional still from animation

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Friday, October 5, 2012.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:52 PM EDT.

Series

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Tapes

The media on this page originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Flaring Black Hole (ID: 2012103)
    Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - Robert Crippen (NASA)