Chandra finds evidence for serial black hole eruptions

Astronomers have used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to show that multiple eruptions from a supermassive black hole over 50 million years have rearranged the cosmic landscape at the center of a group of galaxies.

Scientists discovered this history of black hole eruptions by studying the NGC 5813 Group, a group of galaxies about 105 million light-years from Earth. These Chandra observations are the longest ever obtained of a galaxy group, lasting for just over a week. The Chandra data are shown in this new composite image where the X-rays from Chandra (purple) have been combined with visible-light data (red, green, and blue).

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