Credit: Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/P.Plucinsky et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/SDSU/J.Orosz et al.
This artist's rendering shows a large blue star that is locked into orbit around a black hole. Material from the star is being pulled into a disk that revolves around the black hole at the center orange disk. X-rays from Chandra and optical data from the Gemini telescope (inset) help determine that this black hole is almost 16 times the mass of the Sun. This is the highest mass ever precisely determined for a black hole of this category. Data have also revealed that the companion star has an unusual size, containing over 70 times the Sun's mass.