This image taken by the ultraviolet-light monitoring camera on the European Space Agency's (ESA's) XMM-Newton telescope shows the beautiful spiral arms of the galaxy NGC1365.
NASA's NuSTAR, has helped to show that the spin rates of black holes can be measured conclusively. The solid lines show two theoretical models that explain low-energy X-ray emission seen previously from the spiral galaxy NGC 1365 by XMM-Newton.
This chart depicts the electromagnetic spectrum, highlighting the X-ray portion. NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescope complement each other by seeing different colors of X-ray light.
Scientists measure the spin rates of supermassive black holes by spreading the X-ray light into different colors. The light comes from accretion disks that swirl around black holes, as shown in both of the artist's concepts.
How to Measure the Spin of a Black Hole (Artist's Concept)
Black holes are tremendous objects whose immense gravity can distort and twist space-time, the fabric that shapes our universe as this chart from NASA's NuSTAR and ESA's XMM-Newton telescope illustrates.