A black hole is being dubbed a "death star" by astronomers since they saw it pelt a nearby galaxy. (Sky News Wednesday 19th December 2007)Nasa believes the black hole is obliterating everything in its path as it expels magnetic radiation and a powerful jet of particles.
Two galaxies appear to be merging and astronomers think that the disturbance this is causing may have reopened a dormant black hole in one of them.
The black hole in the larger galaxy was seen blasting out a jet of high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays, as the smaller one swung into its path.
"We've seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we've seen one punch into another galaxy like we're seeing here," said Dr Daniel Evans, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics who led the study.
