Raman Research Institute suggests disk wobble causes M74 X-1 flares
Astronomers from the Raman Research Institute have reported new clues about some weird X-ray flashes coming from ULX M74 X-1, a super-bright spot in a faraway galaxy.
After digging through 20 years of space telescope data, they think these unpredictable flares could be caused by a wobbling disk of matter, kind of like how a spinning top wobbles as it rotates.
Team finds M74 X-1 stellar-mass
Aman Upadhyay and his team noticed that strong winds during flare-ups strip material from the disk, while in calmer times, the inner part is visible.
This wobble could be why the flares look so random.
Their findings also challenge old ideas that ULX M74 X-1 was an unusual, massive black hole. Instead, it's probably just a regular stellar-mass black hole or maybe even a neutron star.
Pretty cool reminder that there's still so much to learn out there!