NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has pinpointed the source of one
of the most puzzling blasts of high-energy radiation ever
observed. It is at the very center of a small, distant galaxy,
which appears to be sending a beam of radiation directly toward
Earth. The 3.8-billion-light-year-distant galaxy appears as a
bright blob at the center of the Hubble picture. This
observation may support the idea that a supermassive black hole
at the core of the galaxy has gravitationally torn apart and
swallowed a bypassing star. As the star's gas falls onto the
black hole, radiation is ejected along a narrow beam. On March
28, 2011, NASA's Swift satellite, which looks for transient
X-rays and gamma rays, detected the first of a string of
powerful bursts of high-energy radiation that has lasted for a
week. More Hubble observations are planned to see if the core
changes brightness. An armada of ground- and space-based
telescopes is also watching the object from X-ray through radio
wavelengths. The Hubble observations were taken