A colossal black hole was caught ripping apart a star. The space agency NASA was able to witness this space event from beginning to end through its telescope.
NASA, the US space agency, has the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is also known as TESS. The space telescope was used to witness the warping and spiraling motion of a star 375 million light-years away into what seemed like an unrelenting gravitational pull in the middle of space.
The TESS recorded the event from beginning to end, and it has helped scientists understand that it was a supermassive black hole that was responsible for the shredding of the star in pieces. Researchers released a statement about it on Thursday. "For TESS to be able to witness such an event in space is truly remarkable. Future collaborations with other observatories around the world will help people learn more about cosmic space," according to the press release by NASA.
That star was the same size as the sun. A rare cosmic occurrence sucked it into oblivion. It produced a kind of brightness in the sky that left many astronomers in awe. In their press release, NASA spoke of the UV emissions produced by such a disruption in the atmosphere.
"The earlier data TESS sent allowed us to see light that's very near a black hole," said Patrick Valley, fellow from the National Science Foundation.
Several theories were made to hopefully explain the phenomenon. "The light produced was very smooth, which helped astronomers identify it as a disruption and not a super nova or a type of outburst from the galaxy." Astronomers and space enthusiasts refer to it as a tidal disruption event.
An international network of telescopes was utilized by astronomers to help detect the phenomenon. They turned to TESS to confirm the event. TESS comes with permanent viewing zones because it has been designed to hunt for distant planets in space. Luckily, it was able to witness the beginning of the violent event in space, proving that it is effective in keeping surveillance of the cosmos.
"The event was a combination of perseverance and luck. Sometimes, these are the only two things people need to push science further and make exciting new discoveries every time," said Thomas Holoien, an astronomer from the Carnegie Institution for Science and lead author of the study. The results of their research were published in the Astrophysical Journal.
The recent space phenomenon happens whenever a star moves closer to a supermassive black hole. The tremendous strength from the gravitational pull of the black hole is the one that causes the stars to be torn into pieces. Some of the materials from the star are tossed out in space while some of it are plunged into the middle of oblivion. As the materials are swallowed by the black hole, it creates a disk of bright, hot gas.
"Specifically, astronomers are able to gauge when the black hole shines bright after it has begun to shine brightly. A drop in its temperature and brightness can also be observed and this aspect of the phenomenon is unique," Holoien said.
By being able to observe the oscillation of heat and light from the black hole, which consumes parts of the star while spewing the rest into space, allows scientists to further understand the behaviour of the black hole. It is a scientific mystery that is slowly revealing itself to experts.
