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Black Hole Jet and Accompanying Erupting Nova (Artist’s Concept)

An artist's concept looks down into the core of the galaxy M87, which is just left of center and appears as a large blue dot. A bright blue-white, narrow and linear jet of plasma transects the illustration from center left to upper right. It begins at the source of the jet, the galaxy’s black hole, which is surrounded by a blue spiral of material. At lower right is a red giant star that is far from the black hole and close to the viewer. A bridge of glowing gas links the star to a smaller white dwarf star companion immediately to its left. Engorged with infalling hydrogen from the red giant star, the smaller star exploded in a blue-white flash, which looks like numerous diffraction spikes emitted in all directions. Thousands of stars are in the background.

This is an artist's concept looking down into the core of the giant elliptical galaxy M87. A supermassive black hole ejects a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma, traveling at nearly the speed of light. In the foreground, to the right is a binary star system. The system is far from the black hole, but in the vicinity of the jet. In the system an aging, swelled-up, normal star spills hydrogen onto a burned-out white dwarf companion star. As the hydrogen accumulates on the surface of the dwarf, it reaches a tipping point where it explodes like a hydrogen bomb. Novae frequently pop-off throughout the giant galaxy of 1 trillion stars, but those near the jet seem to explode more frequently. So far, it's anybody's guess why black hole jets enhance the rate of nova eruptions.

  • Release Date
    September 26, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Finds that a Black Hole Beam Promotes Stellar Eruptions
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

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Related Images & Videos

A Hubble photo of galaxy M87, which resembles a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball. The brightness decreases gradually out in all directions from a bright white point of light at the center. A wavy blue-white jet of material extends from the point-like core outward to the upper right, about halfway across the galaxy. Stars speckle the background.

M87

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its trajectory. These novae are not caught inside...

Image titled "M87, HST/WFC3/UVIS" with color key, scale bar and compass arrows on a black background of space. The M87 galaxy resembles a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball. The brightness decreases gradually out in all directions from a bright white point of light at the center. A wavy blue-white jet of material extends from the point-like core outward to the upper right, about halfway across the galaxy. Stars speckle the background. At upper left is a color key, showing which Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 filters were used to create the image and which color is assigned to each filter: F275W, blue; F606W, orange. A scale bar labeled "6400 light-years over 25 arcseconds" is in the bottom left corner of the image. At the bottom right corner of the image are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 9 o'clock. The north arrow points to the 12 o'clock direction.

M87 Compass Image

A Hubble Space Telescope image of the giant galaxy M87 with color key, scale bar, and compass shows a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma blasting from the galaxy's 6.5-billion-solar-mass central black hole. The blowtorch-like jet seems to cause stars to erupt along its...

This video plots the location of Hubble Space Telescope observations of novae – exploding stars – in the giant elliptical galaxy M87 that appears as a white spherical blob on the black background of space. The galaxy’s most notable feature is a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma ejected from a supermassive central black hole. The jet is a blue streak extending diagonally from the galaxy to upper right of the frame.

Enhanced Nova Rate Near the Jet of M87

This video plots the location of Hubble Space Telescope observations of novae – exploding stars – in the giant elliptical galaxy M87. The galaxy’s most notable feature is a 3,000-light-year-long jet of plasma ejected from a supermassive central black hole. Hubble observations...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 06, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Artwork Credit

NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

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