Astro-Image of the Day: quasar jets

[mckitterick]

This cool astro-image shows massive jets firing out of a BAL quasar. BAL stands for "broad absorption line"; that is, the quasar is surrounded by a thick cloud of gas and dust that absorbs a lot of light emissions, creating absorption lines in spectrographs of the object.


Click the image to see the story.

So what creates these jets and gas cloud? Why, a massive black hole, that's what. As matter falls into the black hole, it goes into fast orbit, creating an accretion disk: the stuff that creates the absorption cloud. Then, as matter finally falls through the event horizon into the black hole per se, mighty x-ray jets fire out from the poles.

Viola! Astronomical drama.

Best,
Chris

Comments

[victoria-lane.livejournal.com]

Just wow. Neatest thing I've seen all day.

[renegade500.livejournal.com]

Damn that's a cool picture.

BTW, some UT astronomers recently found a black hole. But no pictures in that story this cool.

[margaretq.livejournal.com]

kinda makes the "drama of life" seem a bit pointless, eh?

[emessar.livejournal.com]

Viola Astronomical Data?

No love from astronomy for the violin and cello?