ARTISTS RENDITION OF SPINNING BLACK HOLE, 2001-04-30 (photo)

Black holes, those voracious drains in space, may also spin as they gobble, dragging the fabric of the cosmos around with them, NASA scientists said on April 30, 2001. This artist's rendition represents the immediate vicinity of a black hole, with the event horizon depicted as a black sphere. The surrounding disk of gas, represented by white and blue rings, whirls around the black hole at different speeds, with the material closest to the black hole approaching the speed of light. Because it moves at different speeds, atoms that comprise the gas rub against each other and become intensely hot, causing them to emit high-energy radiation, like X-rays. ME