2025年5月9日
IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet
Illustration Credit: NASA, Pablo Garcia
Explanation: How do black holes create X-rays? Answering this long-standing question was significantly advanced recently with data taken by NASA’s IXPE satellite. X-rays cannot exit a black hole, but they can be created in the energetic environment nearby, in particular by a jet of particles moving outward. By observing X-ray light arriving from near the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy BL Lac, called a blazar, it was discovered that these X-rays lacked significant polarization, which is expected when created more by energetic electrons than protons. In the featured artistic illustration, a powerful jet is depicted emanating from an orange-colored accretion disk circling the black hole. Understanding highly energetic processes across the universe helps humanity to understand similar processes that occur on or near our Earth.
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IXPE卫星探索黑洞喷流
图示提供: NASA, Pablo Garcia
说明: 黑洞是如何产生X射线的？这个长久未决的问题，最近因美国国家航空航天局的X射线偏振成像探测器（IXPE）所搜集的数据而获得重大进展。虽然X射线无法逃逸离开黑洞，但它们可以生成于黑洞附近极端高能的环境中，特别是在高速外泛的粒子喷流里。经由观测位于遥远蝎虎星系（BL Lac）中心，名为”耀变体（blazar）”的超大质量黑洞附近的X射线辐射，发现这些X射线几乎不具偏振性。这显示它们可能主要源自高能电子，而非质子。在这幅主题图示里，可以看到一道强烈的喷流，从环拱黑洞的橙色吸积盘喷出。了解宇宙各处的这类的极高能物理过程，有助于科学家深入了解地球附近及地表的类似 过程。 （IXPE; Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer X射线偏振成像探测器）
整合: 今日天文学谜题
明日的图片: Yogi on Mars: 3D
