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.

Créditos:

ESO

Sobre a imagem

Id:eso0330b
Tipo:Mapa
Data de divulgação:29 de Outubro de 2003
Notícias relacionadas:eso0330
Tamanho:800 x 906 px

Sobre o objeto

Nome:Milky Way Galactic Centre
Tipo:Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Distância:25000 anos-luz
Categoria:Galaxies

Formatos de imagens

JPEG grande
98,7 KB

Papéis de parede

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

Cores e filtros

BandaComprimento de ondaTelescópio
Infravermelho
K
2.2 μmVery Large Telescope

Exposure time: 600s