Figure 12-44Disk of Gas and Dust Around a Supermassive Black Hole (a) Swirling around a 3 × 10⁸ M_⊙ black hole in the center of the galaxy NGC 7052, this disk of gas and dust is 3700 ly across. The gas is cascading into the black hole, which will consume it over the next few billion years. The black hole appears bright because of light emitted by the hot, accreting gas outside its event horizon. NGC 7052 is 191 million ly from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula. (b) This drawing shows how the gases spiraling inward in an accretion disk heat up as they approach the black hole. Color coding follows Wien’s law: red (coolest), followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet (hottest).