Astronomers are watching two unusual black holes, each presenting phenomena that challenge current understanding of these cosmic giants. One, a “serial killer” black hole, is about to devour its second star within five years, while the other, part of the newly discovered triple system V404 Cygni, has disrupted long-held theories of black hole formation.

The Black Hole “Serial Killer” Reaches for Another Star

Located 215 million light-years from Earth, this supermassive black hole first caught scientists’ attention five years ago with a bright flare. The flare came from a star that had drifted too close to it, sparking what astronomers call a tidal disruption event, or AT1910qix. Gravitational forces stretched and tore apart the star, leaving part of its remains around the black hole and launching the rest into space.

Led by Dr Matt Nicholl of Queen’s University Belfast, a team of astronomers has tracked this remnant disc over several years using high-powered telescopes such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. Recently, another star has started passing through this disc every 48 hours, creating bright X-ray bursts with each collision. Dr Nicholl describes it as similar to a diver creating splashes in a pool each time they hit the water, with the star as the diver and the disc as the pool.

“What’s uncertain is what will ultimately happen to this star,” Dr Nicholl said. “It could be pulled into the black hole, or it may eventually disintegrate from these repeated impacts.”

A Rare Triple Black Hole System in Cygnus

Meanwhile, in the constellation Cygnus, a rare triple system is raising questions about black hole origins. Known as V404 Cygni, this system includes a nine-solar-mass black hole and two orbiting stars, one much farther away than astronomers had thought possible. Kevin Burdge, an MIT research fellow, notes that a supernova typically pushes any distant companions too far to remain gravitationally bound. But in this system, a distant star orbits at a staggering 300 billion miles.

In their Nature paper, Dr Burdge and his team proposed that this black hole may have formed without a supernova explosion, possibly “quietly” collapsing without ejecting its nearby companions. This hypothesis has sparked interest among scientists, as it hints at new black hole formation processes yet to be fully understood.

Daniel Holz, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, noted that while unlikely, nature often defies assumptions. This discovery could open a new chapter in black hole research.

 

Astronomers have uncovered something surprising while looking 13 billion years into the past using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). They’ve spotted supermassive black hole-powered quasars that appear to be hanging out in isolation. This is odd because, according to current theories, black holes need to be surrounded by a lot of material to grow quickly. But these quasars seem to be in areas with little to no fuel to support such growth, leaving scientists scratching their heads.

Unusual Quasar Fields

A team led by Anna-Christina Eilers, an assistant professor of physics at MIT, studied five of the earliest known quasars. While some were in environments packed with matter, others were almost empty, which was unexpected. Typically, quasars need dense surroundings to grow their black holes, but these particular ones seem to be growing without the usual supply of gas and dust. As Eilers put it, “It’s difficult to explain how these quasars grew so massive if there’s nothing nearby to feed them.”
Challenges to Black Hole Growth Theories

In the present universe, supermassive black holes sit at the center of galaxies and feed on surrounding matter, creating the bright phenomenon we know as quasars. The newly discovered quasars, however, appear to lack the necessary resources. This raises a big question: how did these black holes grow so fast in such a short time? Right now, the existing theories about black hole formation don’t seem to explain what the JWST is showing.

The Next Steps

This discovery raises more questions than it answers. The team thinks it’s possible that some of these seemingly “empty” quasar fields might actually be hiding material behind cosmic dust. They’re now planning to tweak their observations to see if they can find what’s been missed. What’s clear is that we’re still far from understanding how these supermassive black holes came to be so early in the universe’s history.