Probing a distant galaxy like a "cosmic crime scene" with the Hubble Space Telescope after a "tip-off" from the Chandra X-ray telescope, NASA scientists have discovered a strange black hole that is tipped onto its side.

The sideways black hole was discovered in the galaxy NGC 5084, a lenticular (lens-shaped) galaxy located around 80 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Virgo. The black hole rotates in an unexpected direction in relation to its surrounding galaxy.

The team was tipped off to the existence of this black hole when they discovered two plumes of plasma, one that extends above and below the plane of the galaxy and one that stretches through the galaxy, crossing each other and making an "X" shape. This galactic structure is something astronomers have never seen before.