Black hole feeding frenzy ends in lingering cosmic indigestion
Astronomers observing the black hole system Swift J1727.8−1613 found that it expels matter through jets and winds rather than just consuming it. This suggests black holes function more like complex digestive systems than simple bottomless pits.
Why it matters
This discovery challenges long-standing astrophysical models regarding how black holes interact with their environment and process matter.
edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan
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Add as preferred source Artist impression of SwiftJ1727 with donor jet clouds. Credit: John A. Paice & Noel Castro Segura et al, 'SwiftJ1727—Final—No Overlay—DonorJetClouds', (2026). Black holes are often portrayed as cosmic gluttons that swallow everything that comes too close. But new observations of a dramatic black hole outburst—led by Warwick Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Noel Castro Segura—suggest the reality is much messier.
Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers followed the newly discovered black hole system Swift J1727.8−1613 through a spectacular 2023 eruption. The work is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
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