The Accretion Disk
Material that falls into a black hole usually doesn’t go directly in. Instead, gas and dust form an accretion disk that spirals around the black hole like water circling a drain.
These accretion disks have unexpected properties. Though astronomers have yet to fully understand the process, the gas and dust generate strong magnetic fields as they fall in and emit copious amounts of energy. This energy is shot out as two jets of material, often traveling a significant fraction of the speed of light.
The above schematic depicts what these jets might look like up close, though astronomers have also captured the powerful emissions in images, such as the one below of galaxy M87 taken by the Hubble space telescope. Occasionally, these jets will turn off for a short time, building up energy and eventually shooting off massive “bullets” of material.
Image may be NSFW.
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Images: 1) NASA 2) NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
