Scientists have been left scratching their heads by a strange black hole that is behaving even more unexpectedly. The black hole, known as “1ES 1927+654,” has a mass of 1 million suns and was previously stunned astronomers with its sudden disappearance of its corona – a cloud of rapidly moving particles surrounding the black hole.
However, new observations have revealed flashes of X-rays shooting out from the black hole, which are speeding up. Initially, these powerful events occurred every 18 minutes, but now they happen every seven minutes. Researchers believe that an object, likely a dead star called a white dwarf, has passed profoundly close to the black hole.
The most plausible explanation is that the white dwarf is being shredded by the strong gravity of the black hole, causing it to shed its outer layer and trigger pulses of X-rays. This phenomenon would explain why the flares are speeding up as the white dwarf approaches the event horizon of the black hole.
But surprisingly, the white dwarf will not fall into the black hole due to a “kickback” effect that propels it away from the event horizon. The researchers expect to keep observing this curious black hole, located 270 million light-years away, for more surprises and potentially new discoveries.
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/strange-black-hole-acting-even-100000547.html