Supernova hints at birth of a binary black-hole system

Astronomers studying SN 2022esa with the Subaru and Seimei telescopes found a stable, month-long periodicity before the explosion, consistent with a Wolf-Rayet star in a binary system and a companion that may become a black hole or a massive star. The event could mark the birth of a black-hole binary, providing new insights into how such systems form; results were published in Physical Review Letters.