Strange x-ray pulses hint at a surprisingly long-lived white dwarf orbiting precariously close to a supermassive black hole

A black hole infamous for strange features has once again baffled astronomers, this time with rapid X-ray flashes. What could they be?

A mysterious black hole has started behaving even more strangely, scientists have said. The supermassive black hole has been sending out flashes that have increased in speed. The black hole is known as 1ES 1927+654,

The weird outbursts of a distant supermassive black hole may be caused by a death-defying white dwarf walking a cosmic tight rope around it.

There, in the heart of a galaxy named 1ES 1927+654, squats a supermassive black hole whose monkeyshines and hijinks have baffled astronomers for years. Now, we might finally have an explanation for at least some of its wild misbehavior: an orbiting white dwarf star veering precariously close to the brink of the black hole's event horizon,

Supermassive black holes are not picky eaters. They placidly sit at the center of galaxies, but if material gets too close, they’ll voraciously gorge on it. Stars have been disrupted and eaten too when they got too close.