ESA Science & Technology - Artist's impression of black-hole driven outflows and jets at the centre of a galaxy

The image shows an artist's impression of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) at the centre of a galaxy, where a supermassive black hole is vigorously accreting matter from its surroundings via an accretion disc. However, the process of accretion onto the black hole is not fully efficient. It thus results in the ejection of matter via two strongly collimated jets (shown in red/orange) and as well as via wide-angle outflows (shown in gray/blue), which arise from ionised material in the accretion disc.