Astronomers have recently observed unusual behavior from a supermassive black hole located in the galaxy 1ES 1927+654, about 270 million light-years away.
This discovery may lead to the closest known object orbiting a black hole, a white dwarf star, which is so near the event horizon — the point of no return — that it might be balancing on the edge of falling in.
Astronomers Spot Fastest X-ray Flashes from Black Hole, Link to White Dwarf Star
This black hole, which is about one million times as massive as our sun, has been a source of interest since 2018.
During that year, astronomers noticed its corona — a hot cloud of plasma — suddenly disappeared and later reformed, PhysOrg reported.
This was an unexpected and rare event in black hole studies. However, the latest findings reveal even more surprising activity. In 2022, researchers observed dramatic changes in the X-rays emitted by the black hole.
These fluctuations increased in frequency over two years, accelerating from an 18-minute gap between flashes to only seven minutes. This rapid pace had never been recorded before from a black hole.
The researchers suspect that these X-ray changes could be caused by a white dwarf star — a small, dense remnant of a dead star — that orbits too close to the black hole. The star is likely in a tight orbit, nearly touching the event horizon without actually falling in.
This would make the white dwarf the closest known object to a black hole, offering valuable insight into how such extreme environments affect nearby objects.
White Dwarf Star Close to Black Hole Could Produce Gravitational Waves
Megan Masterson, a graduate student involved in the discovery, explains that the white dwarf's compact size and strong gravitational forces allow it to resist being torn apart despite being so close to the black hole.
The white dwarf is likely shedding material into the black hole, which causes the observed X-ray oscillations.
According to DailyGalaxy, these interactions are so powerful that they could produce gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that could be detected by upcoming space missions, like NASA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), which is set to launch in the next decade.
The fluctuating X-rays suggest the white dwarf is orbiting at speeds nearing half the speed of light. This makes it a prime candidate for further observation as it balances at the edge of the event horizon.
The study also shows that the object's interaction with the black hole is a delicate one, with the white dwarf possibly shedding material into the black hole's accretion disk, generating the observed X-ray patterns.
