Tidal Disruption Event
Can a Dead Star Keep Exploding?
In September 2022, an automated sky survey detected what seemed to be a supernova explosion about one billion light-years away.…
A Black Hole Nibbles on a Star Every 22 Days, Slowly Consuming it
Astronomers working with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory have spotted something unusual. The observatory's X-Ray Telescope (XRT) has captured emissions…
A Giant Black Hole Destroyed a Star and Threw the Pieces Into Space
A pair of X-ray telescopes have observed the messy aftermath of a star that came too close to a supermassive…
What a Mess. A Black Hole's Stellar Meal is Brighter and Longer Lasting Than Ever Seen Before
A black hole munching on a star may have caused one of the brightest transients every observed.
The Donut That Used To Be a Star
The death of a star is one of the most dramatic natural events in the Universe. Some stars die in…
A Black Hole is Savoring its Meal, Feeding on the Same Star Over and Over Again
Something extraordinary happens about every 10,000 to 100,000 years in galaxies like the Milky Way. An unwary star approaches the…
A Star Came too Close to a Black Hole. It Didn’t End Well
Black holes are confounding objects that stretch physics to its limits. The most massive ones lurk in the centers of…
A Black Hole Consumed a Star and Released the Light of a Trillion Suns
When a flash of light appears somewhere in the sky, astronomers notice. When it appears in a region of the…
A Black Hole Burps out Material, Years After Feasting on a Star
When observing a black hole that devoured a star three years earlier, an international team of astronomers noticed it "burping"…
Astronomers Discover an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole as it Destroys a Star
Supermassive black holes (SMBH) reside in the center of galaxies like the Milky Way. They are mind-bogglingly massive, ranging from…