ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Accretion disc

Imagine a big bowl of spaghetti that's spinning very, very fast. The spaghetti gets all mixed up and starts to swirl around in a circle. That's kind of what an accretion disc is like.

In space, there are big rocky objects called planets and big fiery objects called stars. Sometimes, these objects spin so fast that they create a big swirling disc of gas and dust that orbits around them. This is called an accretion disc.

The gas and dust in the accretion disc is pulled in towards the center of the disc by something called gravity. Gravity is like a super-strong magnet that pulls things towards it. In the center of the accretion disc, there's a big object that's pulling everything in - this could be a star, a black hole, or something else.

As the gas and dust get closer to the center of the accretion disc, it starts to heat up because of all the friction between the particles. This can create huge amounts of energy, which can be released in the form of light and heat. This is why we can sometimes see bright flashes of light coming from the center of an accretion disc.

Overall, an accretion disc is basically a big swirling bowl of gas and dust that's being pulled towards a central object by gravity. As the material gets closer to the center, it heats up and releases energy, which can be seen as light.