High-speed photography of a black hole with the VLT
Above, you see a few snapshots of the black hole GX 339-4 during a flaring 10-second period. The full movie below shows the actual ULTRACAM data at breakneck speeds of 20 measurements every second. On the left, prominent flares are clearly visible in the small inset visible light images, as well as on the corresponding graph of the instantaneous brightness level. The other target Swift J1753.5-0127, though not shown here, also undergoes fast fluctuations.
The rapid flickering originates within the innermost regions of the environment of a black hole whose gravity is tearing apart a neighbouring star, as shown in the artist's animation on the right.
This is unlike any phenomenon on Earth. Remember that we are looking at cosmic bodies with masses equivalent to several Suns, undergoing sudden eruptions to more than twice their average brightness and then fading back again, all in less than one second!
=>Click here for low-resolution MPG movie (1.5 MB)
=>Click here for high-resolution MPG movie (6.7 MB)
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