ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope has found a star and a black hole that orbit each other at the whopping rate of once every 2.4 hours. Basically, the star orbits the black hole at 2,000,000 km/hr.

red dwarf black hole

The black hole here is 3-4 times heavier than the Sun, while the red dwarf has a mass just 20% that of the Sun. Because their masses are comparable, the red dwarf doesn’t truly orbit the black hole, but rather they both orbit their common center of gravity.



Another thing to note is that the centripetal force (the force that makes a body follow a curved path) acting on the red dwarf is much stronger on the side of the red dwarf facing the black hole than the outside. The difference between these two forces is so large that the star is literally being torn apart.


A A red dwarf is a small and relatively cool star. They are by far the most common type of star in our galaxy, but due to their low luminosity, they are often very hard to spot. Even the largest red dwarfs have just 10% of the Sun’s luminosity.


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