'Cry' of a shredded star heralds a new era for testing relativity
Thursday, August 2, 2012 - 23:00
in Astronomy & Space
Last year, astronomers discovered a quiescent black hole in a distant galaxy that erupted after shredding and consuming a passing star. Now researchers have identified a distinctive X-ray signal observed in the days following the outburst that comes from matter on the verge of falling into the black hole.