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.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:eso0330b
Type:Graphique
Date de publication:29 octobre 2003
Communiqués de presse en rapport:eso0330
Taille:800 x 906 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Milky Way Galactic Centre
Type:Milky Way : Galaxy : Component : Center/Core
Distance:25000 années lumière
Catégorie:Galaxies

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
98,7 Kio
JPEG taille écran
120,0 Kio

Fonds d'écran

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

Couleurs & filtres

DomaineLongueur d'ondeTélescope
Infrarouge
K
2.2 μmVery Large Telescope

Exposure time: 600s