[an error occurred while processing this directive]

		Eye on Infinity << Back to Feature Page Browse through images from our online-exclusive photo gallery. Click to ZOOM IN >> Click to ZOOM IN >> Click to ZOOM IN >> Click to ZOOM IN >> Messy Eater Images by NASA/STSCI/Jeffrey Kenney, Yale University The violent consumption of gas feeds a supermassive black hole in the center of a nearby galaxy, NGC 4438 (which is only about 300 million-trillion miles from Earth—just down the block by cosmic standards). The black hole may be causing massive jets of hot gas to belch forth. The Hubble telescope has been instrumental in finding evidence of black holes, which were still theoretical just two decades ago.

© 2003 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy       Advertising Opportunities       Masthead