Joheen Chakraborty

A pair of white dwarfs whirls in a deadly dance: one star steals helium from its neighbor, spinning up a glowing disk. The orbit shrinks, energy leaves as gravitational waves. The rate of approach has been measured — the future LISA detector will catch the signal in four years.

At the supermassive black hole 'Ansky,' X-ray flares follow a steadily slowing rhythm. Each day, the gap between them grows by nearly half an hour. This defies all models: when a star falls into a black hole, flares should speed up, not slow down. The cause remains unknown.