In the core of a galaxy where a tidal disruption event (eRASSt J234402.9-352640) occurred five years ago, complex variability has been detected in the soft X-ray band. Analysis of light curves and spectra from XMM-Newton and Einstein Probe revealed broad thermal flares with a period of about 12 hours and a duration of ~2 hours — quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs). Notably, during the rise phases of the QPEs (and sometimes in quiet periods), hotter and shorter bursts with durations of 5–30 minutes appear. This previously unseen morphology challenges existing QPE models. The source's phenomenological properties are discussed in the context of extreme mass ratio inspirals.
In the center of galaxy J2344 five years ago, a black hole tore apart a star, and now scorching gas bubbles there — a cosmic “stew pot”. Every 12 hours, giant X-ray bubbles rise in it, and on their ascent, super-hot splashes lasting 5–30 minutes appear. At first, this strange double pulsation was dismissed as a detector glitch — but the rhythm held day after day.
The mechanism was unraveled by X-ray telescopes Einstein and XMM-Newton, confirming the ideas of Kip Thorne and Roger Penrose. The culprit is likely an invisible companion — a stellar remnant or a small black hole orbiting the central supermassive black hole. With each close approach, the companion shakes the disk, generating the main flare, and then, like a wake, a short micro-burst. Such systems are called extreme inspirals. Someday a gravitational-wave observatory will catch them — and we will hear space itself stretch and squeeze.
🎯 A star being ripped apart by a black hole is a once-in-10,000-to-100,000-year event for each large galaxy; catching one in real time happens once in an astronomer’s generation.