A wandering black hole caught feeding on the run

Astronomers discovered a 35,000-solar-mass intermediate-mass black hole in dwarf galaxy UGCA 320, ~20 million light-years distant, and detected a dense gas wake trailing its motion that matches Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion models. Spectroscopy revealed low-density gas ahead, denser gas behind, clumpy accretion streams, and variable broad hydrogen lines indicating intermittent obscuration by dense clumps. This constitutes the first direct evidence that wandering black holes can grow by accreting gas from their own wakes.