What happens the moment a black hole is created?
Or when two stars crash into each other?
Space telescopes hunt for these rare events by detecting the x-rays they emit,
allowing scientists to study them.
But traditional telescopes can only survey a small patch of sky at a time,
not so useful for spotting unexpected activity.
So scientists turn from deep space to the deep sea for inspiration.
Lobsters living in murky water have evolved a remarkable way of visualising their world.
As well as using their antennae and sense of smell and taste, their eyes are mounted on stalks.
Each eyeball is covered in thousands of tapered square tubes, which work like mirrors.
They reflect light from almost any direction into the eye, intensifying the image the lobsters see.
But crucially it also gives them wide-angle vision,
which helps them spot predators without even turning their heads.
Scientists copied this to design new space telescopes covered in tiny tubes,
which reflect x-rays to create an image.
And because the tubes are arranged on a curve they can pick up x-rays from all over the sky.
Who would have thought lobsters could help us see into space?