Black hole sheds light on a galaxy

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The artistic view shows the light echo of a high-energy flash from a black hole. Illustration: MPEESA
The artistic view shows the light echo of a high-energy flash from a black hole. Illustration: MPE/ESA

A light echo occurs when interstellar gas is heated by radiation and reacts by emission of light. An international team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, has observed the light echo of an enormous X-ray flare, which was almost certainly produced when a single star was disrupted by a supermassive black hole.


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