https://openstax.org/books/astronomy/pages/24-thinking-ahead

Thinking Ahead

Figure 24.1 Stellar Mass Black Hole. On the left, a visible-light image shows a region of the sky in the constellation of Cygnus; the red box marks the position of the X-ray source Cygnus X-1. It is an example of a black hole created when a massive star collapses at the end of its life. Cygnus X-1 is in a binary star system, and the artist’s illustration on the right shows the black hole pulling material away from a massive blue companion star. This material forms a disk (shown in red and orange) that rotates around the black hole before falling into it or being redirected away from the black hole in the form of powerful jets. The material in the disk (before it falls into the black hole) is so hot that it glows with X-rays, explaining why this object is an X-ray source. (credit left: modification of work by DSS; credit right: modification of work by NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)