A black hole is a region of space packed with so much matter that its own gravity prevents anything from escaping — even a ray of light. Although we can’t see a black hole, the material around it is visible. Material falling into a black hole forms a disk, similar to a whirlpool in a bathtub drain. Matter swirling around a black hole heats up and emits radiation that can be detected.
Stellar black holes form when the center of a very massive, dying star collapses in upon itself. This collapse may also cause a supernova, or an exploding star, that blasts the outer parts of the star into space. Black holes created by supernovas can be about five to 50 times the mass of the Sun.
Jets are powered by the gravitational energy of a supermassive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy Hercules A. The jets shoot through space for millions of trillions of miles.
Supermassive black holes are millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun. They reside at the center of most galaxies, and their growth is intertwined with the evolution of galaxies. Quasars, the intensely luminous centers of galaxies, are powered by these supermassive black holes.
Hubble’s fine resolution allows astronomers to detect supermassive black holes in distant galaxies by observing the effects of their gravitational pull on surrounding matter. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is Hubble’s primary tool for hunting black holes.
Discover more about black holes and their mysteries. Click here
A supermassive black hole creates a jet of particles traveling at nearly the speed of light from the center of galaxy M87.