14 DAY TRIAL // 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.