Weird Stellar Pair Seen in Spiral Galaxy

This distant spiral galaxy, called NGC 300, has recently been shown to contain an impressive binary system at its core. Unlike other such systems, this one is made up of a relatively large star, which orbits around a black hole.

Such setups are very rare, because they are very difficult to form. The presence of a black hole in a binary system indicates that its precursor star had to blow up at one point, in a massive supernova explosion. The force of the blow could easily destroy a companion star.

Astronomers have established that the black hole is located about 6 million light-years away from Earth, and that it is the second-heaviest stellar-mass dark behemoth on record. The star orbiting it is in its death throes, preparing to go supernova itself.

In a few million years, tidal and gravitational instabilities caused by its companion will force the star to shed its outer layers in a violent explosion, while its core will collapse to form a new black hole, Daily Galaxy reports.