ultra-luminous X-ray sources

Two galaxies collide leaving luminous ring of collapsed stars

7 September 2018 Astronomy Now

Observations of a ring galaxy, the result of a cosmic collision with another galaxy more than 300 million years ago, reveal a necklace-like ring of ultraluminous X-ray sources powered by black holes, neutron stars or both.

Chandra samples galactic goulash

27 June 2017 Astronomy Now

What would happen if you took two galaxies and mixed them together over millions of years? A new image including data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals the cosmic culinary outcome.

Winds a quarter the speed of light seen leaving mysterious X-ray binary systems

29 April 2016 Astronomy Now

Two black holes in nearby galaxies have been observed in X-rays by ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory devouring their companion stars at a rate exceeding classically understood limits, and in the process, kicking out matter into surrounding space at astonishing speeds of around a quarter the speed of light.