NASA study reveals suspected black hole is actually an ultraluminous pulsar

(Galaxy M82: the location of the pulsar – Photo Credit: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Toulouse/M. Bachetti/NOAO)

A new NASA study has revealed that an Ultraluminous X-ray Source (ULX) that astronomers had thought was a black hole is actually the brightest pulsar ever recorded.

Image of the Day: 17/9/14

(Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAO)

The bright blue dot in this image is an energetic pulsar – the magnetic, spinning core of star that blew up in a supernova explosion – that was discovered by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR).

NASA observes distant black hole blurring xrays and bending space and time

(Artist’s concept of a black hole and its corona, pictured here as the white light at the base of the jet – Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has witnessed an extreme and rare event in the region immediately surrounding a supermassive black hole.