The first black hole ever photographed is still surprising researchers. Immortalized by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019, M87* , was recently spotted emitting a massive gamma-ray flare. Studying it may help scientists figure out how particles behave near black holes.
Matter falling toward a black hole forms an accretion disk — a hot, swirling ring of particles that appears like a bright halo. This is actually the part of the black hole that scientists capture on camera. The infalling matter accelerates due to the black hole's gravity, becoming very energetic. Occasionally, some of the material runs into an irregularity in the magnetic field around the black hole and is ejected into the cosmos in a luminous gamma-ray flare.
