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NASA Universe Profile picture
@NASAUniverse
May 2, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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Want to get up to speed on black holes? We’ve got you covered! A black hole is an object so dense that not even light can escape it. #BlackHoleWeek⚫ 1/6 go.nasa.gov/3OOqRNd Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an im
A black hole’s “surface” is its event horizon. Inside this boundary you’d have to go faster than light, the fastest thing in the universe, to escape the black hole. 2/6
The two main types of black holes that have been extensively observed are stellar-mass and supermassive. The type depends on how much stuff is crammed inside. Tens of times our Sun’s mass for a stellar-mass one; millions to billions for a supermassive one! 3/6
Stellar-mass black holes form when a huge star (one with at least 20 times the mass of our Sun) runs out of fuel. It collapses under its own weight and leaves behind a crushed remnant in the form of a black hole. 4/6
Supermassive black holes reside at the centers of most (and maybe all) large galaxies. Scientists are still trying to figure out where they come from. But we do know that they existed in the very earliest days of a galaxy’s lifetime. 5/6
What’s between the stellar and supermassive ones? “Intermediate mass” black holes have been elusive, but our telescopes have spied a few candidates and we’re eager to learn more about them! 6/6 A black hole is a massive object whose gravitational field i

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More from @NASAUniverse

NASA Universe Profile picture
Oct 4
Forty-five years ago this fall, our HEAO (High Energy Astronomy Observatory) 3 satellite blasted off to survey the high-energy sky. Its observations furthered our understanding of how the universe works and what it’s made of. Follow this thread for some highlights! 🧵 This photo shows the nighttime launch of an Atlas/Centaur rocket carrying the final High Energy Astronomy Observatory, HEAO 3, on Sept. 20, 1979. The white rocket, labeled “United States,” is barely off the ground at the center of the image, dramatically lit from below by the fiery glow of liftoff. To its right is scaffolding, nearly as tall as the rocket, with extensions that have just detached from the vehicle. Billowing white clouds fill the bottom left of the image. The photo is watermarked “Credit: NASA.”
Launched from Cape Canaveral on Sept. 20, 1979, HEAO 3 (known as HEAO C before launch) was the last in a series of @NASA spacecraft designed to study X-rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays from intriguing sources observed for the first time in the 1950s and 60s. This illustration depicts three dark gray spacecraft in orbit above Earth, under the title “High Energy Astronomy Observatory.” Each satellite is labeled with its name. HEAO 1, near the top of the image, is roughly cylindrical with blocky hardware covering the side facing us. Shiny blue and gray solar panels attach to the top of its body as well as to its left end. Below and to its left, HEAO 2 is a horizontal cylinder that narrows at one end with circular and rectangular openings visible. Solar panels span the top of the satellite. HEAO 3, to its right, is much blockier than the other two,...
@NASA HEAO 3 studied interstellar magnetic fields, the distribution of interstellar matter, and processes within stars and catastrophic events that create chemical elements heavier than iron. These observations taught us new things about supernova remnants, distant galaxies, and more. This photograph shows HEAO 3 under assembly in a clean room. The spacecraft, near the center of the image, is a tall, boxy structure on a white, rolling base. Six shiny, blue solar panels are attached to the side facing the right of the image, and a thin, white panel extends vertically from its top. It is surrounded by various equipment and scaffolding in a mostly white-walled room. Gray filters line the wall to the left. HEAO 3 towers over four people in white lab coats and hair coverings standing beside it, and two more people stand on a tall, white mobile staircase behind it, looking at ...
Read 7 tweets
NASA Universe Profile picture
Aug 1
The Japanese-led XRISM (pronounced “crism”) telescope launched almost a year ago as part of a long collaboration between @JAXA_en and @NASA. XRISM focuses on the hottest regions, largest structures, and objects with the strongest gravity in the universe. go.nasa.gov/4d7BVk9
@JAXA_en @NASA From calcium in our bones to iron in our blood, we are made of star stuff. But how does the universe make and distribute these elements? XRISM studies the objects and events that created the cosmic recipe of our present-day universe. XRISM captured data from supernova remnant N132D in the Large Magellanic Cloud, shown here as an inset with its location marked within a background image of the galaxy as imaged in visible light from a ground-based telescope. The background is a sea of white dots on black, with several purple knots, each with tendrils of pale red and orange, scattered around. Near the center of the image, is a small box indicating the size and location of an image of the remnant taken by XRISM’s Xtend instrument, which is inset at upper right. The image shows N132D as a colorful circle with flame-like feat...
@JAXA_en @NASA Some of the most intriguing objects in the universe are extreme, superdense objects like black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs. We want to know: What’s happening close to them? What’s inside them? XRISM helps us explore these questions!
Read 5 tweets
NASA Universe Profile picture
Jul 24
Love a morally gray love interest? Black holes are a great example since they have the perfect air of mystery to get away with the dramatic relationships they maintain. From long-term love to one-sided situationships, black holes do it all. go.nasa.gov/46f0skR
Some supermassive black holes, ones that are millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun, are basically childhood sweethearts with the galaxies that form around them — like Sagittarius A* and our own Milky Way.
But relationships aren’t always so sweet. When a star falls head-over-heels for a supermassive black hole, it can be torn apart by gravity in a tidal disruption event. Talk about a bad break-up. 💔
Read 4 tweets
NASA Universe Profile picture
May 7
Did you know that black holes can be social? Let’s look at black holes that are scattered across our galaxy. Most of them have dance partners that can make them easier to detect. #BlackHoleWeek 🧵1/6
This dance starts before there’s a black hole in the picture. Most stars are born with at least one companion, and if either is large enough — 20+ times the Sun’s mass — it will explode as a supernova at the end of its life and leave a black hole. 2/6 science.nasa.gov/universe/the-l…
Since there’s nothing special about the gravity of a black hole, these two can continue their dance. However, there are ways they can interact that make them easier to spot. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
NASA Universe Profile picture
Mar 6
#OTD 15 years ago, our Kepler telescope launched to detect planets outside our solar system. Before it retired in 2018, it helped us find thousands of new worlds … and much more!

Follow this thread for a few of our favorite discoveries! 🧵
Kepler’s steady gaze helped it spot the subtle dimming of a star’s light when a planet passed between us and the star. And it also helped Kepler see a supernova shockwave as it reached the surface of a star — an early moment in an unpredictable event: jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-kep…
This illustration of a supernova shockwave is based on photometric observations made by NASA's Kepler space telescope. A red supergiant star 500 hundred times bigger and 20,000 brighter than our Sun is shown as a sphere mottled in yellow and orange, set against a starry backdrop with the dusty, brown and white plane of our galaxy streaking across it from lower left to upper right. A shockwave from the implosion rushes upward through the star's layers. The shockwave breaks through the star's visible surface as a series of finger-like plasma jets in blue and white. The image is watermarked “A...
Our Sun takes about a month to spin around once, but some larger stars take just a few days. Some spin so quickly, they’re squashed into a pumpkin shape! Kepler and Swift helped us find a batch of these rare stars and studied their extreme activity: nasa.gov/universe/nasa-…
Read 5 tweets
NASA Universe Profile picture
Feb 7
You’ve heard that you’re made of star stuff, but what does that mean? The chemical elements in our bodies — and everything else around us — were made in space billions of years ago, before our solar system formed. So where did some of your elements come from? #PeriodicTableDay
The hydrogen that makes up the water in your body was formed during the big bang.
The nitrogen in your DNA was once inside small stars. Those stars shed their outer layers at the ends of their lives, forming planetary nebulae and freeing their nitrogen to become part of our solar system. Hubble image of the planetary nebula called NGC 2818. The image shows a bright blue central region with a smudged line of yellow through the center. Red wisps define a faint oval. The image is watermarked “Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)”
Read 6 tweets

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