Strange X-Ray Bursts Arise From Black Holes Eating Stars

Thanks to a new detector, astronomers are watching closely for brief eruptions of energy in the sky. They say they've found something particularly gruesome, in stellar terms.

An optical image of the galaxy in which the new event occurred. The X-ray object was located somewhere inside the dashed circle.Credit: Daniele B. Malesani / PanSTARRS

In recent years, scientists have puzzled over a particular class of transients – bursts of intense X-rays and light shot from distant galactic centers.

Now, astronomers have discovered a new X-ray transient and are offering an explanation for these outbursts. The new find – located at the center of a galaxy some 500 million light-years away – is early fruit for a new transient detection system that feeds off data produced by the Swift Observatory X-ray telescope.

Astronomers call them transients - bright flashes of energy in the sky that often mark the destruction of something very large, such as a planet.

These repeat on widely different time scales, from every few hours to once a year or so, but they are believed to be related. Astronomers have come up with some vivid names for them, including “Quasi-Periodic Eruptions” and “Periodic Nuclear Transients.”

They can last anywhere from seconds to ...

Matt Hrodey
Matt is a staff writer for DiscoverMagazine.com, where he follows new advances in the study of human consciousness and important questions in space science - including whether our universe exists inside a black hole. Matt's prior work has appeared in PCGamesN, EscapistMagazine.com, and Milwaukee Magazine, where he was an editor six years.
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