At the heart of a large galaxy lurks a giant black hole — a region from which not even light escapes. But sometimes, like a lighthouse, it gives off regular X-ray flares. In 2025, at the object Ansky, this lighthouse suddenly changed its signal: the gaps between flares grew from 5 to 10 days, but each flare became four times more energetic and lasts twice as long. The fading is now slower – as if the source doesn’t just switch off but smolders out.

The likely cause is a massive companion (a star or gas cloud) that grazes the spinning disk of superheated material around the hole. Under the effect of spacetime curvature, predicted by Einstein, this companion’s orbit is changing, and with it the rhythm of the signals. Perhaps we are witnessing the final loops before the star vanishes forever.

To crack the mechanics, astronomers will continue photometric measurements and spectral analysis of the radiation.