Using NASA's NICER and other missions, astronomers have, for the first time, investigated the environment around repeating X-ray outbursts, known as quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs), near supermassive black holes. The system, nicknamed Ansky, is the eighth QPE source discovered and exhibits the most energetic outbursts with eruptions occurring roughly every 4.5 days and lasting about 1.5 days.
Ansky's extreme properties may stem from the nature of the disk surrounding its supermassive black hole. NICER's location on the International Space Station allowed frequent observations of Ansky, approximately 16 times daily between May and July 2024, which was crucial for detecting the X-ray fluctuations indicative of QPEs.
Researchers found that each eruption results in approximately Jupiter's worth of mass being ejected at speeds reaching around 15% of the speed of light. Studies of QPEs like those from Ansky are valuable in preparing the scientific community for future multimessenger astronomy and missions like ESA's LISA, which will study extreme mass-ratio inspirals. These electromagnetic studies of QPEs will refine models of such systems in anticipation of LISA's launch in the mid-2030s.