Near-infrared flare from Galactic Centre (lightcurve)

This image displays the "light curve" of a light flare from the galactic centre, as observed in the K-band (wavelength 2.2 µm) on June 16, 2003. This and a second flare discovered about 24 hours earlier show variability on a time scale of a few minutes and appear to show larger variations (arrows) with a 17-minute periodicity. The rapid variability implies that the infrared emission comes from just outside (the event horizon of) the black hole. If the periodicity is a fundamental property of the motion of gas orbiting the black hole, the Galactic Centre black hole must rotate with about half the maximum spin rate allowed by General Relativity. The present observations thus probe the space-time structure in the immediate vicinity of that event horizon.

Kredit:

ESO

O snímku

Id:eso0330b
Typ:Mapa
Datum zveřejnění:29. října 2003
Související články:eso0330
Velikost:800 x 906 px

O objektu

Jméno:Milky Way Galactic Centre
Typ:Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Vzdálenost:25000 světelné roky
Kategorie:Galaxies

Image Formats


Pozadí

1024x768
84,7 KB
1280x1024
110,7 KB
1600x1200
138,1 KB
1920x1200
152,5 KB
2048x1536
181,9 KB

Barvy & filtry

PásmoVlnová délkaDalekohled
Infračervený
K
2.2 μmVery Large Telescope

Exposure time: 600s