X-ray & Optical Images of XJ1417+52
Astronomers have discovered an extremely luminous, variable X-ray source located outside the core of its parent galaxy. This black hole likely has a mass of about 100,000 Suns, and may have once been part of a smaller galaxy that merged with a larger one, leaving this black hole on the outskirts of the combined galaxy. Scientists refer to such objects as "wandering" black holes. These images show an X-ray closeup from Chandra and the optical full field image from Hubble.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UNH/D.Lin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI)