NuSTAR Bringing the High Energy Universe into Focus

NuSTAR reveals the origin of X-rays from one of the rarest, most powerful events in the universe, as a star is torn apart when it comes too close to a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy.

Researchers use X-ray observations from NuSTAR to identify nine previously undetected flares from Sagittarius A*, the relatively dormant supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. X-ray echoes from a nearby molecular cloud reveal that 200 years ago the black hole was 10,000 times more active than it is today.

NuSTAR has tested a key prediction of Einstein’s theory of gravity by providing the first observational proof of a “plunging region” around black holes.