# NASA’s Chandra Finds Source of Star’s Mysterious Outbursts

Source: [NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/nasas-chandra-finds-source-of-stars-mysterious-outbursts/) · 2026-11-09 · Space
Page: https://themorning.science/story/nasa-s-chandra-finds-source-of-star-s-mysterious-outbursts-d544226bf8e6e00b
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has identified the likely source of repeated outbursts from a giant, unstable star in the galaxy NGC 4559.
- NGC 4559 is about 30 million light-years from Earth.
- The finding is described as a likely source, not a confirmed one.

## Why it matters

Pinning down what drives these outbursts helps astronomers tell such events apart from true supernovae, as the 'supernova impostor' label in one source suggests.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-09: NASA and Phys.org report that Chandra has found the likely source of the star's repeated outbursts

## Coverage

- [The supernova impostor: Chandra finds likely source of giant star's repeated outbursts](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-supernova-impostor-chandra-source-giant.html) — Space News - Space, Astronomy, Space Exploration, 2026-11-09
- [NASA’s Chandra Finds Source of Star’s Mysterious Outbursts](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/chandra/nasas-chandra-finds-source-of-stars-mysterious-outbursts/) — NASA Science, 2026-11-09

Tags: x-ray astronomy, chandra, stellar outbursts, supernova impostor, ngc 4559

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science