An artist's impression of the mechanisms in an interacting binary system, such as IGRJ16318-4848, that includes a black hole and its companion star. The compact black hole orbits the star, collecting much of the gas and funelling it into a hot disc. This releases a large amount of energy, but only the very energetic gamma rays can escape the thick surrounding gas cloud to be detected by Integral. CREDIT: ESA Click to enlarge.
