'Spaghettification': Star Being Consumed, Ripped Apart by Supermassive Black Hole, the Closest Stellar Occurrence Witnessed in Astronomy

Astronomers recently witnessed the light of a star being consumed and ripped by a supermassive black hole.

As specified in a report from Amazing Astronomy, they made their observation using telescopes at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

Essentially, a black hole had a spaghetti feast, which astronomers were able to witness from 215 million light-years away in a spiral galaxy in the Eridanus constellation.

Although it may seem to be a long distance away, astronomers witnessed the nearest flaring death throes of a star yet.

'Spagettification'

It seems like what the astronomers observed was the "spaghettification" of stars. According to Thomas Wavers, the study co-author and ESO fellow in Santiago, Chile, when an unfortunate star wanders too near a supermassive black hole in the heart of a galaxy, the tremendous gravitational pull of the black hole is shredding the star into thin streams of material. When these thin strands of the material of the star fall into the black hole, they release a brilliant strong flare that astronomers can identify.

Spaghettification occurrences are far harder to see and examine. Nonetheless, the researchers have the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and Fresh Technology Telescope pointed in the right direction after they spotted a new flare of light close to a supermassive black hole a year ago.

In a statement, primary study author and lead lecturer Matt Nicholl, who's also a Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, explained that a black hole's sucking in a neighboring star seems like ascience fiction.

Black Hole-Produced Energy

As indicated in the study published in the Monthly Notices journal, scientists discovered it is difficult to analyze since the occurrence's dust and debris "obscured it from view."

The energy produced by the black hole during its dinner really pushed out the debris of the star in the form of a curtain.

Astronomers started to investigate the event right after the star was ripped apart and continued to examine it in detail for six months using various telescopes and devices as the light coming from the star expanded and eventually faded.

Study co-author and NASA Einstein fellow Kate Alexanderp at Northwestern University said that, since they caught it early, they could really see the curtain of debris and dust being drawn up as the black hole launched a powerful outflow of material with maximum velocities of 10,000 kilometers per second.

Alexander also explained that this unique "peek behind the curtain" offered the first opportunity to pinpoint the origin of obscuring material and follow in real-time how it is engulfing the black hole.

'Rosetta Stone' for Future Events

Observations were made in various light wavelengths which include optical, X-ray, radio radiation, and ultraviolet.

This variation of wavelengths specified a direct link between the strong flare seen as the star was consumed by the black hole and the material that flows out of the star.

Such observations, Nicholl explained, revealed that the star had approximately the same mass as the Earth's own Sun and that it lost roughly half of that to the monster black hole, which is more than a million times more massive.

This research, as indicated in a related Space.com report, advances the understanding of astronomers of black holes, and this specific event, called AT2019qiz, could be used as a "Rosetta stone" for future occurrences.

Related information about Spaghettification is shown on Cosmoknowledege's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Black Holes in Science Times.