Fact Sheet
Light from Darkness
Possible "medium-sized" black holes glow as bright points of light in this X-ray image of the Antenna galaxies from the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Although the black holes emit no energy of any kind, they are surrounded by disks of superhot gas that produce copious X-rays as the gas spirals into the black holes. The Antennae are two spiral galaxies that are merging, triggering intense outbursts of new star formation.
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