AT2020afhd provides strong evidence for Einstein's frame-dragging 120 million light-years
A star getting swallowed by a supermassive black hole, 120 million light-years from Earth, has just provided strong evidence to one of Einstein's big ideas.
Scientists spotted the event, called AT2020afhd, where the black hole tore apart the star and formed a bright disk of matter and launched powerful jets.
This provided strong evidence for frame-dragging, a weird effect Einstein predicted where spinning massive objects actually twist space itself.
Swift and VLA detect matching signals
NASA's Swift Observatory and the Very Large Array picked up matching X-ray and radio signals from this wild event at the same time, showing something major was happening out there.
By studying these cosmic pulses, researchers can now learn more about how fast black holes spin—and how they launch those epic plasma jets we see in space movies.
It also shifts our view of black holes from being just mysterious voids to dynamic, active parts of our universe.