ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft has detected an unprecedented X-ray signal coming from the very edge of a supermassive black hole.

This defies how we thought matter falls into black holes, and points to a potential source of gravitational waves for ESA’s future LISA mission.

ESA Writeup: https://www.esa.int/Science/_Exploration/Space/_Science/XMM-Newton/XMM-Newton/_catches/_giant/_black/_hole/_s/_X-ray/_oscillations

(Artist impression: NASA/Sonoma State University, A. Simonnet)

@science@lemmy.world @science@beehaw.org @space@lemmy.world @space@newsmast.community #space #science #nasa #astronomy

  • A_A@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    TLDR ; Physicists cannot exactly explain x-ray 10% amplitude oscillations at periods from 400s to 1000 s, observed from the surrounding of a black hole, despite some hypothesis including that a white dwarf would be orbiting it at aprox 50% light speed.

    • Anticorp@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      despite some hypothesis including that a white dwarf would be orbiting it at aprox 50% light speed.

      Damn, can you imagine the time dilation for that region? It’s a white dwarf which has a fair amount of its own gravity, then it’s traveling at half the speed of light, and it’s on the edge of a supermassive black hole. I’ll bet time just stands still there, while the universe zooms around it.