Chandra Release - September 12, 2000

Visual Description: M82 Black Hole

 The Chandra X-ray Observatory astronomical image features the core region of a starburst galaxy named M82, which is located about 12 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.  M82 is known for its intense star formation activity, making it an ideal target for X-ray observations.  The dominant colors in the image are orange and yellow, which represent the intensity of the X-ray radiation emitted by the galaxy.   The image displays two panels side by side, each showing a different view of M82.  Of particular interest in this image is the bright source near the center of the image, which is offset from the dynamical center (located by a small green +) of the galaxy by about 600 light years. This source was seen to increase dramatically in X-ray intensity over a period of three months (when comparing left and right panels) after which it decreased in intensity. A pattern of variability such as this indicates that the source is a black hole.