1. Illustrations of Black Hole Eclipse
These artist's representations, which are not to scale, explain how a supermassive black hole and the hot gas disk around it are eclipsed. The first illustration shows how light from the bright disk surrounding the black hole can directly reach Chandra. The second illustration demonstrates how this light can be blocked by a dense cloud of gas, which causes only reflected light from the disk to reach Chandra.
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(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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These artist's representations, which are not to scale, explain how a supermassive black hole and the hot gas disk around it are eclipsed. The first illustration shows how light from the bright disk surrounding the black hole can directly reach Chandra. The second illustration demonstrates how this light can be blocked by a dense cloud of gas, which causes only reflected light from the disk to reach Chandra.
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(Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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2. NGC 1569 Illustration
This illustration depicts the orientation of NGC 1569 and the line of sight from which Chandra observed it. Most of the X-ray halo emanates from the central disk of the galaxy, which is inclined at an angle of 60 degrees to Earth. This means that the northern lobe of X-ray emission from NGC 1569 is largely blocked from Chandra's view, while the southern lobe appears to be more prominent. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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This illustration depicts the orientation of NGC 1569 and the line of sight from which Chandra observed it. Most of the X-ray halo emanates from the central disk of the galaxy, which is inclined at an angle of 60 degrees to Earth. This means that the northern lobe of X-ray emission from NGC 1569 is largely blocked from Chandra's view, while the southern lobe appears to be more prominent. (Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)
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Revised: August 19, 2008