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In this artist\u2019s impression, matter is stripped from a white dwarf orbiting within the innermost accretion disk surrounding 1ES 1927\u2019s supermassive black hole. Astronomers developed this scenario to explain the evolution of rapid X-ray oscillations detected by ESA\u2019s XMM-Newton satellite. The oscillations could suggest that a massive object, like a compact star, is embedded in the accretion disk, and is rapidly orbiting the black hole on its way to being swallowed.<\/p>\n
ESA\u2019s LISA mission, due to launch in the next decade, should be able to confirm the presence of an orbiting white dwarf by detecting the gravitational waves it produces.<\/p>\n
[Image description:<\/i> In the lower half of the image, a colourful disk, mostly orange and white, swirls around a black ellipse that looks like a hole. Within the disk, a small white ball appears to whizz around leaving a pinkish trail; above the disk and the black hole, an electric-blue jet of wispy material is rising and fills the top part of the image]<\/p>\n
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