NASA detects wandering black hole shredding star outside galactic center

NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory detected a supermassive black hole tearing apart a star on the outskirts of a galaxy on July 27, 2026, an unusual discovery since such black holes typically reside at galactic centers. The observation provides rare evidence of wandering black holes.

2 reportsother

Claim audit

No BS check run yet — press ⚖ to extract this story's claims and verify them against independent sources.

All coverage

NASA telescope spots wandering black hole shredding star

kite:scienceother61d ago kagi ↗

NASA said its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory spotted a supermassive black hole shredding a star on a galaxy’s outskirts, not at the galactic center where such black holes are usually expected [earthsky.org#1][skyandtelescope.org#1][nautil.us#1]. The agency announced the finding July 27, 2026, and the peer-reviewed paper appeared the same day in The Astrophysical Journal Letters [earthsky.org#1][re

NASA spots wandering black hole shredding distant star

kite:spaceother61d ago kagi ↗

NASA said July 27 that its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory spotted a supermassive black hole tearing apart a star on the outskirts of a galaxy, not at the galactic center where such black holes are usually found [earthsky.org#1][nautil.us#1][skyandtelescope.org#1]. Sky & Telescope described the object as a roaming supermassive black hole at the edge of its host galaxy, and La Repubblica reported th