Science and Exploration

Black Hole Outburst in Spiral Galaxy M83

By Keith Cowing
July 16, 2012
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Black Hole Outburst in Spiral Galaxy M83
Spiral Galaxy M83
NASA

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered an extraordinary outburst by a black hole in the spiral galaxy M83, located about 15 million light years from Earth.
Using Chandra, astronomers found a new ultraluminous X-ray source, or ULX. These objects give off more X-rays than most normal binary systems in which a companion star is in orbit around a neutron star or black hole.

Image Credit: NASA/CXC/Curtin University/R.Soria et al. Images.

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