Space1 min(s) read
Published 17:01 12 Oct 2020 GMT
In what has been described as a "tidal disruption event" seen in telescopes across the world, astronomers watched an unusual blast of light from a star being "eaten" by a black hole.
Per the Independent, the phenomenon manifested itself as a bright burst of energy, and at just 215 million light-years away was the closest of its kind ever recorded.
Events of this nature occur when a star is pulled into a black hole due to extreme gravity from getting to close to it.
As part of the process of the star being pulled in, "spaghettification" occurs. This is when the star is broken down into thin strips, some of which fall into the black hole.
When this happens, a burst of energy breaks out into the universe, allowing telescope users to spot the event.
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"The idea of a black hole 'sucking in' a nearby star sounds like science fiction. But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event," said lead author Dr. Matt Nicholl, a lecturer and Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham.
"We were able to investigate in detail what happens when a star is eaten by such a monster," he added.
Astronomers were able to watch through various telescopes around the world over a six-month period.
These telescopes included: the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and New Technology Telescope, the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network, and the Neil Gehrel's Swift Satellite.
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"When a black hole devours a star, it can launch a powerful blast of material outwards that obstructs our view," said Samantha Oates, also at the University of Birmingham.
"This happens because the energy released as the black hole eats up stellar material propels the star's debris outwards," she added.
They were able to see this particular disruption event, known as AT2019qiz, much more clearly as it was detected not long after the star was divided into shreds.
"Several sky surveys discovered emission from the new tidal disruption event very quickly after the star was ripped apart," says Thomas Wevers, an ESO Fellow in Santiago, Chile.
"We immediately pointed a suite of ground-based and space telescopes in that direction to see how the light was produced," he added.
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The unprecedented event allowed astronomers to watch the ultraviolet, optical, X-ray, and radio light emitted from the disruption.
"The observations showed that the star had roughly the same mass as our own Sun, and that it lost about half of that to the black hole, which is over a million times more massive," said Nicholl, who is also a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh.
Also detected for the first time ever was a cloud of debris that obscured the process.
"Because we caught it early, we could actually see the curtain of dust and debris being drawn up as the black hole launched a powerful outflow of material with velocities up to 10 000 km/s," said Kate Alexander, NASA Einstein Fellow at Northwestern University.
"This unique 'peek behind the curtain' provided the first opportunity to pinpoint the origin of the obscuring material and follow in real-time how it engulfs the black hole," she added.
