A supermassive black hole located approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth has been imaged experiencing one of the most powerful X-ray outbursts.

Another unprecedented cosmic event that has amazed scientists has occurred.

At the heart of a galaxy located about 300 million light-years away from Earth, a previously inactive supermassive black hole has been captured undergoing one of the largest and most powerful X-ray outbursts ever witnessed by astronomers.

According to a report from Naftemporiki, this active phase signals the awakening of the supermassive black hole, which has been dormant for decades, and dominates the region known as the “active galactic nucleus” or “AGN” at the center of the galaxy.

The team named this cosmic AGN entity “Ansky.” Ansky’s awakening was first detected in late 2019, and astronomers monitoring its development using NASA’s Swift X-ray space telescope were alerted.

In February 2024, astronomers started to observe the black hole powering Ansky bursting with flashes at fairly regular intervals. This presented a unique opportunity, allowing the real-time tracking of a supermassive black hole’s outburst.

“ONE HUNDRED TIMES MORE ENERGY IS RELEASED” Johin Chakraborty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a member of the research team using a series of ground-based and space-based telescopes and missions to observe the giant black hole and collect data, stated: “The X-ray outbursts from Ansky are ten times larger and brighter than what we typically see in a QPE. Each of these outbursts releases one hundred times more energy than what we have observed elsewhere.”

Chakraborty also noted that Ansky’s bursts exhibited the longest period observed to date, lasting about 4.5 days, challenging our models and questioning our current ideas about how these X-ray flashes are formed.