File:KSC-05-S-00032 (ksc 012505 black holes).webm

English: Always dramatic and fascinating, black holes are in the news again with three amazing discoveries. NASA researchers have caught masses of hot iron gas speeding around a black hole at a whopping 20,000 miles per second. The reckless masses were clocked using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton space telescope. This is the first time scientists have pierced through the bright X-ray light of a black hole and tracked orbiting objects. In another discovery, NASA's Rossi Explorer satellite has found evidence that a black hole can buckle the space surrounding it. While observing a hole near the constellation Aquila, researchers detected a repeating spike in X-ray light near the object. Like a warped record spinning around, scientists suspect the space circling the black hole has developed a wave. As the wave passed through a glowing cloud of iron gas, the light from the gas was energized and seen by the Rossi Explorer. And finally, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has recorded the most powerful explosion ever detected from a black hole. The eruption appears to have lasted more than 100 million years. Chandra scientists believe the blast is triggered by large amounts of matter ingested into a hole with an enormous appetite. The hole expelled twin jets of particles that tore through its enveloping gas cloud, creating cavities millions of light years across.