NASA has captured images of “amazing” rings around a black hole resembling a stargate 7,800 light-years from Earth.

NASA’s Lunar X – ray Observatory and Neil Gehrell’s Swift Observatory have teamed up to build the black hole and its associated star system, known as the V404 Signy.

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The black hole in the system pulls objects out of the star, which is half the mass of the Sun, an event created by rings visible only on X-rays.

“The rings tell astronomers not only about the nature of the black hole, but also about the terrain between the V404 signal and the Earth,” the researchers at the Lunar X-ray Observatory wrote in a statement.

For example, the diameter of the rings on X-rays reveals the distance of dust clouds emitting light. If the cloud is closer to the earth, the ring will appear larger and vice versa.

Light echoes appear as narrow rings rather than wide rings or hollows, because X-ray bursts are only relatively short-lived.

Rings are created by the echoes of light, as happens on Earth when sound waves emanate from solid surfaces.

“Instead of sound waves rising from the valley wall, V404 echoed X – ray waves from the black hole between the dust clouds and the earth.”

Cosmic dust is not like earth dust, but like smoke, which contains small particles.

The statement noted that the rings are useful for scientists to understand the black hole in more detail and the distance between the V404 signal and the Earth.

For example, the diameter of the rings on X-rays reveals the distance of dust clouds emitting light. If the cloud is closer to the earth, the ring will appear larger and vice versa.

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Light echoes appear to be narrower rings than narrower rings or hollows, because X-ray bursts are only relatively short-lived.

The X-ray eruption from the star system was first detected in June 2015, but images have only recently been released.

The combined image shows X-rays of the Moon and data from the Pan-Stars Telescope in Hawaii, showing the stars in view.

The system was observed by the Lunar Observatory between 11 and 25 July 2015, while the Swift Observatory made 50 observations between 30 June and 25 August 2015.

The Swift Observatory was launched 17 years ago, and the Chandra X – ray Observatory was launched on July 23, 1999.

Source: Daily Mail

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