A
ball of hot and compact magnetized plasma held in equilibrium against its self-gravity by radiation pressure rather than
gas pressure. A MECO is so extremely
compact that its own radiation quanta move in almost closed
orbits due to self-gravity. Therefore, though the MECO
is extremely hot and luminous to a
local observer it
appears as almost ``
Black'' to astronomers. According to
Abhas Mitra, an Indian astrophysicist, and several other astrophysicists, the so-called ``Black Hole Candidates'' are actually MECOs rather than true Black Holes.