This image is from a computer animation illustrating a spinning black hole. The gas can be seen forming a disk-shaped structure as it whirls around the black hole, like soap suds spiraling down a bathtub drain. Lines from the poles of the black hole represent jets of gas being ejected from the vicinity of the black hole at nearly the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second). Although nothing can escape a black hole once it passes its point of no return, called the event horizon, black holes are "sloppy eaters," often expelling matter that approaches but does not cross the event horizon. The poorly understood jets are frequently seen near black holes that are swallowing copious quantities of gas.
