jpegPIA15414 (IMAGE)

Royal Astronomical Society

jpegPIA15414

Caption

This artist's concept shows a "feeding," or active, supermassive black hole with a jet streaming outward at nearly the speed of light. Not all black holes have jets, but when they do, the jets can be pointed in any direction. If a jet happens to shine at Earth, the object is called a blazar.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Usage Restrictions

Credit must be given to the creator.

License

CC BY

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.