Strange gamma-ray heartbeat puzzles scientists
Monday, August 17, 2020 - 10:00
in Astronomy & Space
Scientists have detected a mysterious gamma-ray heartbeat coming from a cosmic gas cloud. The inconspicuous cloud in the constellation Aquila is beating with the rhythm of a neighboring precessing black hole, indicating a connection between the two objects, as the team led by DESY Humboldt Fellow Jian Li and ICREA Professor Diego F. Torres from the Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC) reports in the journal Nature Astronomy. Just how the black hole powers the cloud's gamma-ray heartbeat over a distance of about 100 light-years remains enigmatic.