Back to today’s briefing

Story perspectives

New Discovery: Black Hole's X-Ray Oscillations Reveal Secrets

2/9/2025

50 9

Summary

Story summary

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery, detecting unusual X-ray oscillations from the supermassive black hole 1ES 1927+654, situated 270 million light years away. The oscillation period has dramatically dropped from 18 to just 7 minutes, hinting at a white dwarf orbiting perilously close to the event horizon. This finding could revolutionize gravitational wave detection and enrich our grasp of black hole behavior.

1 of 1

Story summary

Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery, detecting unusual X-ray oscillations from the supermassive black hole 1ES 1927+654, situated 270 million light years away. The oscillation period has dramatically dropped from 18 to just 7 minutes, hinting at a white dwarf orbiting perilously close to the event horizon. This finding could revolutionize gravitational wave detection and enrich our grasp of black hole behavior.