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APOD: 2025 May 9 B IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet
<< Yesterday 9.05.2025
APOD: 2025 May 9 B IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet
Credit & Copyright: NASA, Pablo Garcia
Explanation: How do black holes create X-rays? Answering this long-standing question was significantly advanced recently with data taken by NASABs IXPE satellite. X-rays cannot exit a black hole, but they can be created in the energetic environment nearby, in particular by a jet of particles moving outward. By observing X-ray light arriving from near the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy BL Lac, called a blazar, it was discovered that these X-rays lacked significant polarization, which is expected when created more by energetic electrons than protons. In the featured artistic illustration, a powerful jet is depicted emanating from an orange-colored accretion disk circling the black hole. Understanding highly energetic processes across the universe helps humanity to understand similar processes that occur on or near our Earth.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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