Black holes are some of the most elusive objects in the Universe. They can form
when a massive star collapses under its own weight. Because they are very dense,
the gravitational pull of black holes is so strong that nothing can escape, not even
light. Thus they have long remained black and mysterious. But now, thanks to ESA's
and NASA's X-ray observatories, XMM-Newton and Chandra, astronomers have a
much clearer picture of where black holes are and what they can actually do. And
that can be quite dramatic!

A Black Hole Inferno No Prod 2477
10:00:40:00
Black holes are some of the most elusive objects in the Universe. They can form
when a massive star collapses under its own weight. Because they are very dense,
the gravitational pull of black holes is so strong that nothing can escape, not even
light. Thus they have long remained black and mysterious. But now, thanks to ESA's
and NASA's X-ray observatories, XMM-Newton and Chandra, astronomers have a
much clearer picture of where black holes are and what they can actually do. And
that can be quite dramatic!
10:01:17:00
It all started a few years ago, when the German X-ray satellite ROSAT detected a
burst of X-rays from the direction of a distant galaxy, until then unknown. The burst
was so violent that the X-ray energy from that galaxy, called RX J1242-11, suddenly
rose dramatically.
10:01:36:00
What puzzled Dr. Stefanie Komossa, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
Physics near Munich, was the shocking contrast between the tranquil appearance of
RX