'This happens because the energy released as the black hole eats up stellar material propels the star's debris outwards.' 'When a black hole devours a star, it can launch a powerful blast of material outwards that obstructs our view,' explained Samantha Oates, also at the University of Birmingham, in a statement. In this case the researchers were able to begin their observations before the cloud of dust blocked their view, providing a rare glimpse into one of the universe’s most awesomely destructive events. Tidal disruption events are typically obscured by large clouds of dust and debris that get ripped off the passing star by the black hole, making this one, named AT2019qiz, all the more special. Using the European Southern Observatory’s quite-aptly-named Very Large Telescope and New Technology Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory’s global telescope network and the Neil Gehrels Observatory Swift satellite, they were able to study the event in far greater detail than would normally be possible thanks to a speedy discovery. 'We were able to investigate in detail what happens when a star is eaten by such a monster.'Īstronomers brought out the big guns, so to speak, to observe the rare phenomena.

But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event,' said Matt Nicholl, lead author and a lecturer and Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham (U.K.) in a statement. 'The idea of a black hole 'sucking in' a nearby star sounds like science fiction. Such an event occurs when a star passes too close to a black hole, allowing the extreme gravity of the black hole to shred the unfortunate passerby in a process known as “spaghettification” - called such because the resulting pieces of stellar matter are stretched into long, relatively thin strands.Īs some of these strands are sucked into the black hole, the incredible amount of energy released causes a luminous flare that allows Earth-based observers to detect its whereabouts.īritish scientists carried out their investigation over a six-month period in 2019 and described the process in a new study released Monday in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.īy employing UV, optical and X-ray data they were able to chart the path of the debris ejected by the black hole and determine its relative mass and velocity. Taking place 215 million light-years away in a spiral galaxy in the constellation of Eridanus, the phenomenon known as a tidal disruption event occurred closer to Earth than any previously recorded and may shed new light on one of the more mysterious astronomical events known to occur. (CN) - Astronomers caught a rare glimpse into the last moments of a dying star before it was ripped apart by a supermassive black hole.

Blackhole swallows blackhole