The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This artist's impression shows hot gas orbiting in a disc around a rapidly-spinning black hole. The elongated spot depicts an X-ray-bright region in the disc, which allows the spin of the black hole to be estimated.
Studying the black hole devouring a star known as ASASSN-14li with ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory and NASA’s Chandra and Swift X-ray observatories, a team of astronomers has discovered an exceptionally bright and stable signal that allowed them to determine the black hole’s spin rate.