Strange x-ray pulses hint at a surprisingly long-lived white dwarf orbiting precariously close to a supermassive black hole

A black hole infamous for strange features has once again baffled astronomers, this time with rapid X-ray flashes. What could they be?

Supermassive black holes are not picky eaters. They placidly sit at the center of galaxies, but if material gets too close, they’ll voraciously gorge on it. Stars have been disrupted and eaten too when they got too close.

A mysterious black hole has started behaving even more strangely, scientists have said. The supermassive black hole has been sending out flashes that have increased in speed. The black hole is known as 1ES 1927+654,

Regular pulses of X-ray radiation emanating from a supermassive black hole could be explained by a white dwarf star on the verge of falling in

NASA's Chandra and NuSTAR telescopes have teamed up to study a supermassive black hole-powered quasar that could have played a key role in ending the cosmic dark ages.

Most picture the night sky as an endless sea of twinkling stars. But if your eyes could see the universe in X-rays, you’d spot thousands upon thousands of bright points representing giant black holes feeding on gas and dust.