Astronomers have made an incredible discovery about a supermassive black hole’s feeding habits. In 2019, the black hole consumed a star, but what happened next was unexpected. Researchers found bright spikes of X-rays that recurred every 48 hours, known as quasi-periodic emissions. These emissions were observed in other events and are still not fully understood.
Further study using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other space telescopes revealed nine more X-ray bursts that followed a similar pattern. The source of these emissions is believed to be material swirling around the black hole in an accretion disk, rather than a star cluster.
The team thinks the bursts mark the orbit of another star crossing the accretion disk. This is unlikely since stars don’t normally orbit close to supermassive black holes. However, if two stars collide and one becomes captured by the strong gravity, the other can be ejected from the system.
This discovery suggests that the observed X-ray bursts might be more common than initially thought. The fact that researchers stumbled upon these findings by accident could indicate that they are indeed widespread in the universe.
Source: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/black-hole-eats-one-star-the-remains-pummel-a-second-one