{"318571":{"#nid":"318571","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Getting a rare glimpse with a black hole telescope","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor David Ballantyne is on the science team for NuSTAR, a telescope that NASA launched in June 2012. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2012\/06\/11\/nustar-provides-new-look-black-holes\u0022\u003EBallantyne helped plan the mission\u003C\/a\u003E, which looks at black holes in ways never seen before. \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press\/2014\/august\/nasas-nustar-sees-rare-blurring-of-black-hole-light\/index.html\u0022\u003ENASA has now released\u003C\/a\u003E some of the instrument\u0027s newest findings. NuSTAR has watched a black hole\u0027s gravity pull X-ray light, stretching and blurring that light. Black hole experts like Ballantyne have observed this phenomenon before, but never in so much detail.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022For more than three decades, we have known that growing supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies produce X-rays. Yet, how these X-rays are actually produced is still a mystery, said Ballantyne. \u0022It seems the X-rays are generated in a \u0027corona\u0027 (analogous to the solar corona that can be seen during a solar eclipse), but figuring out even the basic details of these black hole coronae, such as its size, has been a major challenge. Now, NuSTAR, NASA\u0027s newest X-ray telescope, with its high sensitivity to a wide range of X-ray energies, is finally able to measure the details of black hole coronae. These measurements will allow astrophysicists to understand the engines that power some of the most energetic regions in the entire Universe.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPhoto caption: The regions around supermassive black holes shine brightly in X-rays. Some of this radiation comes from a surrounding disk, and most comes from the corona, pictured here in this artist\u0027s concept as the white light at the base of a jet. This is one of a few possible shapes predicted for coronas. Image credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"NASA has released new findings about a black hole telescope."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2014-08-22 16:37:13","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:59","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"318551":{"id":"318551","type":"image","title":"NuSTAR new findings","body":null,"created":"1449244974","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:02:54","changed":"1475895027","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:27","alt":"NuSTAR new findings","file":{"fid":"200009","name":"nustar140812_tn2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nustar140812_tn2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nustar140812_tn2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":69567,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/nustar140812_tn2_0.jpg?itok=4wTeiFAH"}}},"media_ids":["318551"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1325","name":"aerospace"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer \u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}