LONDON: A black hole that hasn’t been heard of since 1989 has suddenly become active again and is now the brightest object in the X-ray sky.
About 8,000 light-years from Earth, a black hole and a star dance around each other in the constellation Cygnus, the swan. Black holes emit energy as matter heats up before being devoured in the depths of super-gravity; since 1989, however, the black hole in that system — known as V404 Cygni — has been relatively quiet. That is, until now.
he European Space Agency (ESA) reported June 26 that its Integral satellite started picking up “an exceptional outburst of high-energy light” from the black hole. That’s after activity from V404 Cygni had been spotted by NASA’s Swift satellite, and an X-ray flare was found by the MAXI unit (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image), which is part of the Japanese module on the International Space Station.
The ESA put its Integral gamma-ray observatory to the task of observing V404 Cygni on June 17 and have confirmed that the black hole is indeed active again. In fact, it’s incredibly active.
