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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Extraordinary Evidence for an Incredible Idea
Presented by: Name, Affiliation
Location and Date here
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
A Brief Summary of Black HolesStellar-mass black holes
The most massive stars end their lives in titanic explosions, leaving nothing behind but their ultra-dense collapsed cores. Mid-mass black holesA new class of recently-discovered black holes have masses on the order of hundreds or thousands of stars.
Representations above are artists’ impressions, and not to scale.
Supermassive black holesThe centers of galaxies contain giant black holes, with the masses of millions, even billions, of stars.
We cannot see black holes directly, but their influence
on the matter around them reveals their presence.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
X-ray Binary: Visible Light View
Many of the stars in our universe come in pairs. Ordinary stars orbiting around a black
hole will appear to “wobble” in the sky.Sloa
n Digi
tal Sk
y Surv
ey
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
X-ray Binary: X-ray Light View
More dramatically, matter being pulled off the orbiting star, into the accretion disk of
the black hole, glows brightly in x-rays.NASA
/ CXC
/ SAO
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Globular Cluster: Visible Light View
Globular clusters are large, dense clusters of stars.
These stars are among the oldest stars in our universe.
W. Keel (U. Alabama), et al.. 1.54-m
Telescope, Chile
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Globular Cluster: X-ray Light View
Stars orbiting around black holes inside these ancient clusters are revealed by the x-
ray glow of matter around them.
NASA / CXC / CfA/J. Grindlay & C. Heinke
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Milky Way Center: Visible Light View
The heart of our galaxy is a veritable soup of stars, gas, and dust. On a clear night in
a dark sky, the view is breathtaking.
W. K
eel (U
. Alab
ama),
et al.
. 1.54
-m
Telescope, Chile
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Milky Way Center: X-ray Light View
Lurking within our galaxy’s hot, turbulent center are x-ray binaries, neutron stars, and
even a supermassive black hole.
NASA
/ U.M
ass /
D. Wan
g, et
al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Spiral Galaxy: Visible Light View
Like our own Milky Way, M74 is a majestic spiral. The swirling spiral arms house a menagerie of stars and stellar material.NOAO
/ AUR
A / NS
F/ T.
Boros
on
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Spiral Galaxy: X-ray Light View
X-ray observations of strange new sources provide evidence for a new class of black
holes, with the mass of 10,000 stars.NASA/CXC / U. Michigan / J. Liu et al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Spiral Galaxy: Multi-wavelength View
Combining x-ray and visible light observations can pinpoint the locations of
black hole, providing a more complete picture.
NASA / CXC / U. Michigan / J. Liu et al.
NOAO / AURA / NSF / T. Boroson
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Spiral Galaxies: An X-ray Gallery
Thanks to the Chandra X-ray Observatory, these “mid-mass” black holes are becoming
part of the story for all galaxies.NASA / CXC / SAO / R. DiStefano, et al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Elliptical Galaxy: Visible and X-ray Views
Indeed, most (if not all) galaxies are now thought to house a variety of black holes,
ranging in mass from small to large.
NASA / CXC / UVA / C. Sarazin, et al.Digital Sky Survey
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Deep Field Galaxies: X-ray View
Looking out deep into space and back in time, we see supermassive black holes in the cores
of the earliest galaxies.NASA / CXC / PSU /D. M. Alexander, F. E. Bauer, W. N. Brandt, et al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
If animation does not play automatically, download animation “Galaxy Merger and Chandra Data” fromhttp://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/0192/animations.html
Direct Link: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2002/0192/SimPlusData_small.mpg
Animation must be in the same folder as presentation to run.
Colliding Galaxies: A Black Hole Merger
Actual observations provide evidence and data for computer simulations. What does it look
like when black holes collide?
QuickTime™ and aYUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
NASA / CXC / MPE / S. Komossa, et al.
J. Barnes (U.Hawaii)
J. H
ubbard
(NRAO
)
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Centaurus A: Visible Light View
Centaurus A is a nearby galaxy that is thought to be the result of a merger of two smaller galaxies. What’s behind the dust?
M. Rejkuba (ESO-Garching) et al., ISAAC, VLT
ANTU
teles
cope,
ESO P
aranal
Obser
vatory
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Centaurus A: X-ray Light View
A telltale sign of a black hole is a high-energy jet blasting into space. This galaxy has
a supermassive black hole in its center!NASA / SAO / R. Kraft, et al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Elliptical Galaxy: Visible and X-ray Views
The elliptical galaxy M87 also houses a monster in its middle: the most massive black
hole yet observed in our universe.
NASA / CXC / M. Forman, et al.
Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
Black Holes Galore!
From the formation of galaxies to the deaths of stars,
black holes are an integral part of our universe’s history.
NASA/CXC/SAO/H.Marshall et al.NASA/CXC/MIT/F.K.Baganoff et al.
NASA/CXC/U.Amsterdam/S.Migliari et al.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/MIT/UCSB/P.Ogle et al.Optical: NASA/STScI/A.Capetti et alNASA/UMD/A.Wilson et al.
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Real Images of Actual Black Holes
CreditsThis slide show was created for:
Inside Einstein’s Universe
http://www.universeforum.org/einstein/
Black hole images in this presentation are courtesy:
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
http://chandra.harvard.edu/
To learn more about black holes, visit:
http://www.universeforum.org/