Intrepid white dwarf has a close encounter with a massive black hole

Scientists have detected emanating from the nucleus of a galaxy relatively close to our Milky Way flashes of X-rays gradually increasing in frequency that seem to be coming from a white dwarf – a highly compact stellar ember – with a death wish.

The observations made using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray telescope appear to show a white dwarf nearing the point of no return – called the