Tidal Disruption Event
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…
Astronomers Track a Neutrino Back to the Source. Where a Black Hole Tore Apart a Star
Neutrinos are notoriously finicky particles. Hundreds of trillions pass through a person’s body every second, yet they hardly seem to…
Astronomers Watch a Star Get Spaghettified by a Black Hole
When a black hole consumes a star, it does so by turning it into spaghetti first. Astronomers have seen it…
Astronomers Watched a Star System Die
About 570 light years from Earth lies WD 1145+017, a white dwarf star. In many respects it's a typical white…
This is What Happens When a Black Hole Gobbles up a Star
An international team of scientists recently created a unified model that shows what happens when stars are consumed by a…