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Watch QuickTime video:
Magnetic Fields |
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This animation shows a spinning black hole drawing in a disc
of gas that has probably been captured from a close-by companion
star. As the gas falls towards the black hole it heats up, reaching
millions of degrees before plunging into the black hole. When
gas is this hot, it glows in X-ray light, and can be seen by an
X-ray space telescope such as Chandra or XMM-Newton. This
hostile environment produces intense magnetic fields, which can
be seen looping between the poles of the black hole.
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