A massive black hole at the center of large galaxy called NGC 3115 has been seen sucking in hot gas.

Image captured by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory confirmed that gas squeezes and become hotter and brighter as it flows towards a black hole.

Commenting on the topic, Ka-Wah Wong from the University of Alabama said, “It’s exciting to find such clear evidence for gas in the grip of a massive black hole.”

Wong added that images captured by Chandra’s provide a unique chance to understand more about how the intense gravity of black holes attacks material.

The temperature of gas and other material starts rising around 700 light-years away from the black hole, which allows scientists to estimate the mass of the black hole. The super-massive black hole at the center of NGC 3115 has been estimated to have a mass of around 2 billion Suns.

The pictures have provided scientists with a clear signature of hot gas. Previously, gathers data showed materials just falling towards and onto black holes.

The super-massive black hole at the center of NGC 3115, which is situated at around 32 million light years away from Earth, has been classified as a lenticular galaxy as it contains a disk plus a central bulge of stars, but there is no detectable spiral pattern.

The paper was published in the July 20 edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.