Rogue black hole found terrorizing unfortunate star in distant galaxy

Editor’s Note: Black holes are already fascinating, but this discovery is like finding a needle in a cosmic haystack. Intermediate-mass black holes are notoriously hard to detect, and this one’s violent interaction with a star gives researchers a new way to track them down. It’s a big deal because understanding these mid-sized monsters could fill in gaps about how supermassive black holes—like the one at the center of our galaxy—form and evolve. Plus, it’s just cool to know there’s a rogue black hole out there giving some poor star a really bad day.