In 2019, astronomers observed a star being destroyed by a black hole's gravitational forces after it ventured too close. The star's remains formed a disc-shaped "stellar graveyard" around the black hole. Over time, this disc has expanded and is now on a collision course with a star, or possibly a stellar-mass black hole, that orbits the massive black hole at a previously safe distance. These "quasi-periodic eruptions" (QPEs) are linked to supermassive black holes, but the cause of the regular X-ray bursts was unknown. Hubble's ultraviolet data aligned with Chandra's observations has led to a startling discovery about the supermassive black hole's disc size.

Source: The Star October 10, 2024 15:48 UTC