Supposedly Nothing Can Escape from a Black Hole, Yet Astronomers

question 85

Multiple Choice

Supposedly nothing can escape from a black hole, yet astronomers are locating black hole candidates by the X-rays they emit. How can X-rays be coming from a black hole?

• A) The X-rays come from a highly compressed region in an accretion disk outside the event horizon of the black hole.
• B) X-rays are not light or matter and can therefore escape from inside the black hole.
• C) If the black hole is rotating, it modifies spacetime around it so much that particles and X-rays are created in the vacuum just outside the event horizon.
• D) The X-rays are produced by vibrations of the black hole itself and therefore do not come from inside the black hole.

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