A previously dormant supermassive black hole in the galaxy SDSS1335+0728 has burst into life, emitting intensely powerful X-ray eruptions that are challenging current astrophysical models. The object, dubbed Ansky, is located 300 million light-years from Earth and was detected in late 2019.
Researchers have been monitoring Ansky’s activity with NASA and ESA space telescopes and have observed quasiperiodic eruptions (QPEs) – short-lived, recurring X-ray flares that occur when black holes consume nearby material. However, what sets Ansky apart is the sheer scale and intensity of its activity.
“The bursts of X-rays from Ansky are ten times longer and ten times more luminous than what we see from a typical QPE,” said Joheen Chakraborty, a researcher at MIT. “Each eruption is releasing a hundred times more energy than we have seen elsewhere.”
Despite the intense activity, there are no visible signs of stellar destruction or tidal disruption events, which are often linked to QPEs. The eruptions also show the longest cadence ever observed, of about 4.5 days.
The unusual behavior of Ansky may be connected to gravitational waves, which could be detected by upcoming missions like LISA. “These repetitive bursts are also likely associated with gravitational waves that ESA’s future mission LISA might be able to catch,” said Erwan Quintin, an X-ray astronomer and research fellow at ESA.
The intensity and frequency of Ansky’s emissions are pushing existing theoretical models to their limits. Researchers are calling for extended monitoring campaigns to gather more data and better understand the behavior of massive black holes. The discovery provides a crucial stepping stone in understanding active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their dynamics, and has been published in Nature Astronomy.
Source: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/04/black-hole-erupts-record-breaking-x-ray