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A Black Hole That Comes Back to Life?

-- | June 30, 2015

Question: My partner was driving home yesterday night ( 29 june 2015) listening to the radio, they were talking about a black hole that they realised had came back to life again. Would you know specific black hole they talking about? Or what constellation its near to. Like i said my partner was hearing it on the radio on the 29 june 2015. — Pete

Answer: I suspect that the story you heard was about V404 Cygni, which is a black hole and star system in our galaxy, in the direction of the constellation Cygnus, which has recently “flared”, or produced an outburst of energy at xray wavelengths. Although the specific mechanism by which black holes flare is not entirely understood, it likely has something to do with the amount of matter being fed to the black hole (by, in this case, the nearby star that is gravitationally coupled to the black hole).

Jeff Mangum

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