ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft has detected an unprecedented X-ray signal coming from the very edge of a supermassive black hole.

This defies how we thought matter falls into black holes, and points to a potential source of gravitational waves for ESA’s future LISA mission.

ESA Writeup: https://www.esa.int/Science/_Exploration/Space/_Science/XMM-Newton/XMM-Newton/_catches/_giant/_black/_hole/_s/_X-ray/_oscillations

(Artist impression: NASA/Sonoma State University, A. Simonnet)

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