The above image comes from today’s ESA press release about the discovery of a nova near the galactic center. It shows two x-ray images of a nova-like event brightening near the galactic center. You can tell because of the arrow. (Duh!)

I would think that most people would have the same initial reaction I would… So what are all the other blobs brightening, dimming, appearing or disappearing between the images? Doesn’t that merit a mention in the press release or the caption? The text suggests an answer (follow-up of a particular event revealed it to be something special, which isn’t necessarily obvious from a single image or pair of images), but a little greater clarity would be nice.

We are also treated to an artist’s impression of the nova, which shows the red- and blue-shifting of the light in the disk and jets around the compact object—without bothering to offer any explanation. C’mon, what’s one more sentence between friends and surfers?