Credit: MPI for Astrophysics / Wolfgang Hillebrandt, Ewald Müller
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Black Hole In A Tidal Race
Saturday, August 4, 2012 16:28
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The galactic double star system SS 433 consists of a high-mass, young giant star, which is presumably encircled by a black hole. The latter devours gas that flows out of the giant star. The energy released in the process spews a very small proportion of the overflowing gas into space in the form of two bundled rays known as jets. The spatial direction of the jets changes at regular intervals due to the effect of tidal forces. This causes the formation of a spiral structure like this computer simulation of one of the two jets shown here in a computer simulation.
