Astronomers have found an especially sneaky black hole – discovery sheds light on star death, black hole formation and gravitational waves

VFTS 243 is a binary system of a large, hot blue star and a black hole orbiting each other, as seen in this animation. ESO/L.Calçada, CC BY

There is always something new and exciting happening in the field of black hole research.

Albert Einstein first published his book explaining the theory of general relativity – which postulated black holes – in 1922. One hundred years later, astronomers captured actual images of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. In a recent paper, a team of astronomers describes another exciting new discovery: the first “dormant” black hole observed outside of the galaxy.