Images: Black holes extremely energy-efficient

The gas bubbles (which appear purple here) inside this gas cloud surrounding a black hole intrigued astronomers at NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory. They turned out to be immense particle jets produced as matter falls toward the black hole. The jets may force stars and other objects away from black holes. The data being gathered now may help piece together exactly how black holes operate.

Photo by NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./S. Allen et al./ESA/McMaster Univ./ NRAO/VLA