INTERACTIVE ASTRONOMY: Black Hole With Accretion Disk, Jets & Winds

BLACK HOLE WITH ACCRETION DISK, JETS & WINDS: A star, somewhat like our Sun, pictured near a black hole. The whole system rotates about its centre of mass (between the black hole and star but closer to the black hole). The gravitational pull of the black hole distorts the star making it pear shaped. Material is dragged away from the star and forms an accretion disk as it spirals inwards and finally disappears into the black hole. The star heats up on the side facing the accretion disk (glows bright yellow). Very high temperatures near the inner (blue-white) part of the disk create winds (shown as yellowish green streams) that spin material off into space. The extreme conditions near the black hole force jets of material (pale blue) to shoot out above and below the accretion disk. If we were really looking at this system, the extreme gravitional fields would distort the light and the whole assemblage would appear folded up at the far side.