ESA’s XMM-Newton Observatory

X (rays) mark the spot where mid-size black hole devours passing star

19 June 2018 Astronomy Now

In the most clear-cut observation yet, ESA and NASA X-ray telescopes spot the telltale flare of an elusive intermediate-mass black hole devouring a passing star in the outskirts of a galaxy 740 million light years away

Mysterious flaring X-ray objects discovered in nearby galaxies

26 October 2016 Astronomy Now

Astronomers have found a pair of extraordinary cosmic objects that dramatically burst in X-rays, flaring up to become about a hundred times brighter in less than a minute, before returning to original X-ray levels after about an hour. This discovery may represent a new class of explosive events found in space.

Record-breaking galaxy cluster discovered

31 August 2016 Astronomy Now

A new record for the most distant galaxy cluster has been set using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. CL J1001+0220 is located about 11.1 billion light-years from Earth. The discovery of this object pushes back the formation time of galaxy clusters — the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity — by about 700 million years.