Scientists have dived deeper into the "eye of the storm" swirling around supermassive black holes than ever before. This unprecedented investigation of the turbulent and violent conditions around these cosmic titans, including the first black hole ever imaged by humanity, was possible thanks to the joint Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA)/ NASA X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM).
Using XRISM, astronomers have seen samples of supermassive black holes influencing the surrounding gas in prior X-ray images, but these were lacking as static images of an incredibly dynamic process. By measuring the energy of X-rays coming from hot gas, XRISM presents a much more dynamic picture of black hole influence than has been available before.
