A flash caught in half a minute
Twenty-eight seconds: that's how long it took for an automated camera to lock onto a flash in a constellation whose light had traveled for more than nine billion years.
The Arrow Piercing the Disk: Recipe for an X-ray Flare
Deep space, galactic center. A supermassive black hole is surrounded by a scorching disk of gas and dust. And then, through this fiery veil, a star shoots by every few hours — like an arrow loosed from the bow of gravity. Each passage triggers a dazzling X-ray flare that for a moment outshines the entire galactic nucleus.