The view, captured by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), involved the burring and stretching of a compact source of X-rays known as the corona as it was pulled into the hole.
According to The Independent, the phenomenon has never been captured before and the new finding could lead to an updated understanding of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The agency who captured the moment said they benefitted from a stroke of luck when the corona lit up the exact part of the black hole they were studying, lighting it up like a torch.
The black hole in question is known as Markarian 335 and is approximately 324 million light years away from Earth.
“NuSTAR’s unprecedented capability for observing this and similar events allows us to study the most extreme light-bending effects of general relativity,” Fiona Harrison, NuSTAR principal investigator, said.
