Astronomers have seen spacetime itself wobble near a spinning black hole for the first time. The discovery, revealed during a star’s destruction, confirms a major prediction of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The universe has delivered a rare breakthrough for scientists who have been hunting one of the most difficult effects to observe in the cosmos.
In research published in Science Advances, astronomers report the first direct detection of a swirling distortion in spacetime produced by a fast-spinning black hole.
First direct view of black hole frame dragging
The phenomenon is called Lense-Thirring precession, also known as frame-dragging. It describes how a rotating black hole twists the spacetime around it, pulling nearby matter along and causing the paths of stars and gas to slowly wobble.
The research team was led by the National Astronomical Observatories at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with support from Cardiff University. They focused on an object known as AT2020afhd, a tidal disruption event (TDE) in which a star was destroyed after wandering too close to a supermassive black hole.
A star torn apart reveals a spinning disk and jets
As the star was ripped apart, its debris settled into a rapidly rotating disk around the black hole. At the same time, powerful jets of material were launched outward at close to the speed of light.
By studying repeating patterns in X-ray and radio signals from this event, the scientists found that both the disk and the jet were wobbling together. This coordinated motion repeated every 20 days, providing a clear signature of the spacetime twisting effect.
A century old prediction confirmed
The idea behind this effect was first proposed by Einstein in 1913 and later described mathematically by Lense and Thirring in 1918. These new observations confirm a key prediction of general relativity and give researchers a new way to investigate black hole spin, how matter falls into black holes, and how jets are launched.
Dr. Cosimo Inserra, a Reader in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University and one of the paper’s co-authors, said: “Our study shows the most compelling evidence yet of Lense-Thirring precession – a black hole dragging space time along with it in much the same way that a spinning top might drag the water around it in a whirlpool.
“This is a real gift for physicists as we confirm predictions made more than a century ago. Not only that, but these observations also tell us more about the nature of TDEs – when a star is shredded by the immense gravitational forces exerted by a black hole.
“Unlike previous TDEs studied, which have steady radio signals, the signal for AT2020afhd showed short-term changes, which we were unable to attribute to the energy release from the black hole and its surrounding components. This further confirmed the dragging effect in our minds and offers scientists a new method for probing black holes.”
How telescopes uncovered the effect
To detect the frame-dragging signal, the team analyzed X-ray observations from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory (Swift) and radio data from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA).
They also studied the makeup and behavior of the surrounding material using electromagnetic spectroscopy. This helped them identify the structure and properties of the matter involved and confirm the underlying physical process.
“By showing that a black hole can drag space time and create this frame-dragging effect, we are also beginning to understand the mechanics of the process,” explains Dr. Inserra.
“So, in the same way a charged object creates a magnetic field when it rotates, we’re seeing how a massive spinning object – in this case a black hole – generates a gravitomagnetic field that influences the motion of stars and other cosmic objects nearby.
“It’s a reminder to us, especially during the festive season as we gaze up at the night sky in wonder, that we have within our grasp the opportunity to identify ever more extraordinary objects in all the variations and flavors that nature has produced.”
Reference: “Detection of disk-jet coprecession in a tidal disruption event” by Yanan Wang, Zikun Lin, Linhui Wu, Wei-Hua Lei, Shuyuan Wei, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Long Ji, Santiago del Palacio, Ranieri D. Baldi, Yang Huang, Ji-Feng Liu, Bing Zhang, Aiyuan Yang, Ru-Rong Chen, Yangwei Zhang, Ai-Ling Wang, Lei Yang, Panos Charalampopoulos, David R. A. Williams-Baldwin, Zhu-Heng Yao, Fu-Guo Xie, Defu Bu, Hua Feng, Xinwu Cao, Hongzhou Wu, Wenxiong Li, Erlin Qiao, Giorgos Leloudas, Joseph P. Anderson, Xinwen Shu, Dheeraj R. Pasham, Hu Zou, Matt Nicholl, Thomas Wevers, Tomás E. Müller-Bravo, Jing Wang, Jian-Yan Wei, Yu-Lei Qiu, Wei-Jian Guo, Claudia P. Gutiérrez, Mariusz Gromadzki, Cosimo Inserra, Lydia Makrygianni, Francesca Onori, Tanja Petrushevska, Diego Altamirano, Lluís Galbany, Miguel Peréz-Torres and Ting-Wan Chen, 10 December 2025, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ady9068
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13 Comments
HAPPY NEW YEAR. YOUR EINSTEIN IS CORRECT. WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IS MORE SIMPLE. ITS YOUR STARS AND PLANETS TIME ALIGNMENT TTS:
21 NOVEMBER 1999
3 JANUARY 2001
5 OCTOBER 2005
15 DECEMBER 2015
15 DECEMBER 2078
IT HAPPENS TO BE THE 100 YEARS THAT EINSTEIN PREDICTED BUT HE LEFT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT EQUATION AND THE DATES KEEPS GIONG BACK AND FORTH UNTIL THE CORRECT DATE IS ACCURATE WHICH IS 3 JANUARY 2001 IN THE FUTURE. MAKE YOU A SPREADSHEET AND PLACE IT WITH YOUR ADVANCE DEEP SPACE 7 SATELLITES TO CONFIRM. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EGYPTIAN PHARAOH AND CROWN KING OF AFRICA TUTANKHAMON II
The spinning accretion disk and jet formation are defined by rotation of supermassive black hole;but,frame dragging is defined solely for a star or star origined black hole by Einstein’s GR,so,this is found in a reverse way for the shredding star,which is elusive,here.Thus,frame dragging or Einstein’s GR occured,that is found from the observation as per prediction;but,fundamental reason is elusive being a part of natùre.
“ There will be signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars.
“On the Earth, Nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea 🌊 . “
———Jesus Christ in
Luke Chapter 21: Verse 25
Circa 33 AD/ CE
Oh, you ignorant, arrogant, religious lunatic. Get back on your meds. Your kind has done nothing but impede progress and cause misery and destruction.
I can tell you are seething with tolerance and inclusion aren’t you.
Telling a lunatic to f*ck off isn’t wrong. If Hitler stood in front of you, would you be like “Oh I need to be inclusive, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt”? Oh stfu.
Is that what Bobby Ross was peddling?
Your response is loaded with the sort of hatred Adolph was pushing a century ago. Honestly, disagree with mr. Del Rosso all you want, but keep your Hitler equivalencies within you own, hateful mind. You are what you despise.
I’m with you Robert. The only problem I have is I’m not very surrendered. I have a huge disdain for the people that have commented on here as if there’s somehow superior. They have no idea the ego and soul-crushing reality that would come down when somebody punches them in the mouth because they want to hide behind a screen and talk like a tough guy. The internet has ruined some people. They don’t get to experience reality and be right-sized about things. I hope God can forgive me for that but I have a huge desire to do some damage to the ones that want to sit behind the screen and talk s***. You’re a bigger man than me Robert because you do what’s writing God’s eyes and turn the other cheek. Perhaps someday I’ll be meek like that, but in the moment I’d love to defend you!!!
spacetime being warped is simply a linear number field being warped by the introduction of the Lorenz Contraction. Same ol same ol.
That’s what “spacetime” is – a math geometry – the point: not real. Real may seem so but the introduced number system is abstract fabrication – not there at all. What is there is there but numbers are not.
It is very important to become sober in this regard. – If you want out of the fish-bowl.
Mind BLOWN!!
I wonder if the picture were to be sited from a 90 degree angle that the shape might represent a circle that’s warps to a helix shape from a 3d to a 2d perspective just one single circle bent with the helix shape is not cork screwed it is continuous circle sited from it’s edge . similar to a spring washer in machines
I think the answer depends on whether or not you are asking bout what happens in real space (aka, viewing a flat circle from the side, which we can’t truly do in 3 dimensions) or talking about whether or not this effect would happen on a purely geometric basis where you simulated the same effect in 2d space.
I’m with you Robert. The only problem I have is I’m not very surrendered. I have a huge disdain for the people that have commented on here as if there’s somehow superior. They have no idea the ego and soul-crushing reality that would come down when somebody punches them in the mouth because they want to hide behind a screen and talk like a tough guy. The internet has ruined some people. They don’t get to experience reality and be right-sized about things. I hope God can forgive me for that but I have a huge desire to do some damage to the ones that want to sit behind the screen and talk s***. You’re a bigger man than me Robert because you do what’s writing God’s eyes and turn the other cheek. Perhaps someday I’ll be meek like that, but in the moment I’d love to defend you!!!