Chandra catches a clue to why a giant star keeps erupting

A giant star has been flashing brighter every few months without blowing itself apart. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory caught a strong burst of X-rays during one of those flares, giving astronomers evidence that an unseen companion may be pulling gas from the star. The flaring star, known as AT 2016blu, lies in the spiral galaxy NGC 1365, which is located about 60 million light-years away from Earth.