29 May 2023
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  • [ 26 May 2023 ] Seeing the universe in X-rays, optical and infrared, all at once News
  • [ 15 May 2023 ] A record-setting explosion as a supermassive black hole gorges on gas News
  • [ 13 May 2023 ] Globular cluster mystery may be explained by short-lived ultra-massive suns News
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Swift J1644+57

News

X-ray echoes of a shredded star provide close-up of monster black hole

23 June 2016 Astronomy Now

Some 3.9 billion years ago in the heart of a distant galaxy, the intense tidal pull of a monster black hole shredded a star that passed too close. After X-rays produced in this event first reached Earth on 28 March 2011, scientists concluded that the outburst, now known as Swift J1644+57, also represented the sudden flare-up of a previously inactive black hole.

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News Headlines

  • Seeing the universe in X-rays, optical and infrared, all at once
    26 May 2023
  • A record-setting explosion as a supermassive black hole gorges on gas
    15 May 2023
  • Globular cluster mystery may be explained by short-lived ultra-massive suns
    13 May 2023
  • Jammed radar boom on Jupiter-bound Juice probe finally freed
    12 May 2023
  • NASA developing a robotic snake to slither on – and into – icy moons
    11 May 2023
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