OSIRIS-REx Observes a Black Hole

University students and researchers working on a NASA mission orbiting a near-Earth asteroid have made an unexpected detection of a phenomenon 30,000 light-years away. Last fall, the student-built Regolith X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (REXIS) aboard NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft detected a newly flaring black hole in the constellation Columba while making observations off the limb of asteroid Bennu. The glowing object turned out to be a newly flaring black hole X-ray binary – discovered just a week earlier by Japan’s MAXI telescope – designated MAXI J0637-430. Music is "Castles and Cathedrals" from Universal Production Music. Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center James Tralie (ADNET): Lead Producer Lead Editor Narrator Brittany Enos (University of Arizona): Lead Writer John Caldwell (AIMM): Videographer Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Videographer Richard Binzel (MIT): Scientist Branden Allen (Harvard): Scientist Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support