News Astronomy

Magnetism helps black holes blow off gas

Winds rushing away from accretion disk are driven by magnetic fields

GRO J1655-40

WIND POWER  A black hole steals gas from a normal star in this artist’s illustration of the binary star system GRO J1655-40. Most of the gas is pulled into an inward-spiraling disk (red) around the black hole, but winds driven by magnetic fields blow some gas away.

M. Weiss/CXC/NASA

By Ashley Yeager

- More than 2 years ago

Black holes are a bit like babies when they eat: Some food goes in, and some gets flung back out into space.