Black Hole Quietly Born From Collapsing Massive Star That Skipped Its Supernova Stage

Astronomers were reported to have witnessed the death of a massive star. However, as a supernova is expected to occur, no signs of the event have been detected by multiple telescopes. But instead, a black hole was seen to be the only thing left after the star’s death.

According to New Atlas, astronomers have witnessed the death of a star 22 light-years away from Earth. The star was described to be 25 times the size of the Earth’s sun. However, the remnants of the dying star weren’t seen amid using the power of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope (LBT).

With that said, the dying star classified as N6946-BH1 didn’t result in a supernova as scientists expected but instead quietly left a black hole. The scientists then checked further for remains of the star using Hubble space telescopes to see if the remains are only dimmed. The LBT was also used to check for supernova occurrence. Meanwhile, the Spitzer telescope was also used to check for infrared radiation.

Yet, all results from NASA’s telescopes and the LBT turned up negative. Hence, researchers concluded that the N6946-BH1 star turned into a black hole indeed as the star isn’t found amid all efforts. The results were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society as reported by per Phys Org.

"N6946-BH1 is the only likely failed supernova that we found in the first seven years of our survey. During this period, six normal supernovae have occurred within the galaxies we've been monitoring, suggesting that 10 to 30 percent of massive stars die as failed supernovae," Scott Adams, former Ohio State student and co-author of the study explained.

Nonetheless, study co-author and professor of astronomy at Ohio State, Krzysztof Stanek stated that the study could aid in further investigations of the complicated origins of very massive black holes captured by Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) via gravitational waves. However, Stanek still stated that the star couldn’t possibly have a remaining mass to turn into a black hole after a supernova event.