A Hidden Companion Is Fueling a Fake Supernova Every 113 Days
For fifteen years, a massive star thirty million light-years away has repeatedly flashed bright enough to mimic its own death.
For fifteen years, a massive star thirty million light-years away has repeatedly flashed bright enough to mimic its own death. This unstable giant, known as AT 2016blu, survives blasts that happen roughly three times a year, earning it the label of a supernova impostor. While optical telescopes tracked these regular spikes in visible light, the underlying engine remained hidden.
That changed when researchers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to catch the star during an active phase in March 2026. The data revealed that AT 2016blu was at least one hundred times brighter in X-rays than it was before its outbursts began in 2012. This sudden spike points to an invisible partner locked in an oval-shaped orbit with the massive star.
This companion is either a stellar-mass black hole or a dense neutron star pulling material away from the volatile star every 113 days. As the two objects make their closest approach, the captured material whips around at near-light speeds and heats up intensely. That friction generates the high-energy X-ray blasts that warm the surrounding gas, causing it to glow in visible light.
This discovery marks the first time astronomers have caught an erupting star of this class emitting X-rays from a black hole or neutron star companion.
Our read is that this system bridges the gap between rare ultra-luminous X-ray sources and violent stellar eruptions.
Watch for whether similar hidden binaries explain other erratic stars before they explode.
The story so far
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Original publication: 10 November 2026 00:25
