Black Hole Accreting with Jet
What happens when a black hole devours a star? Many details remain unknown, but recent observations are providing new clues. In 2014, a powerful explosion was recorded by the ground-based robotic telescopes of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) project, and followed up by instruments including NASA 's Earth-orbiting Swift satellite . Computer modeling of these emissions fit a star being ripped apart by a distant supermassive black hole . The results of such a collision are portrayed in the featured artistic illustration . The black hole itself is a depicted as a tiny black dot in the center. As matter falls toward the hole, it collides with other matter and heats up . Surrounding the black hole is an accretion disk of hot matter that used to be the star, with a jet emanating from the black hole's spin axis .