New public outreach animation demonstrating the stochastic variations of the flux emitted as supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies accrete matter from their surroundings.

The animation has been produced by TALES coordinator National Observatory of Athens and accompanies the scientific publication led by TALES supervisor A. Georgakakis on the stochastic X-ray flux variability of quasars.

The study uses new observations from the eROSITA X-ray telescope and finds evidence for an unexpectedly high level of X-ray variability for fast-growing supermassive black holes. This can be interpreted as evidence of powerful winds of outflowing material that blast away from the system and intermittently block our view of the central engine.