Space Science News

These images of the planetary nebula Abell 30, (a.k.a. A30), show one of the clearest views ever obtained of a special phase of evolution for these objects. The inset image on the right is a close-up view of A30 showing X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory in purple and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data showing optical emission from oxygen ions in orange. On the left is a larger view showing optical and X-ray data from the Kitt Peak National Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton, respectively. In this image the optical data show emission from oxygen (orange) and hydrogen (green and blue), and X-ray emission is colored purple.

A team of scientists from MIT, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Michigan and elsewhere have used NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory to detect the brightest flare ever observed from Sagittarius A*. The flare, recorded 26,000 light years away, is 150 times brighter than the black hole’s normal luminosity. Scientists observed the flare for more than one hour before it faded away. This brief burst of activity, they say, may be a clue to how mature black holes like Sagittarius A* behave.