‘Supermassive’ black hole devoured a star for over a decade, NASA reveals

A giant black hole ripped apart a star and then gorged on its remains for about a decade, according to astronomers. This is more than ten times longer than any observed episode of a star’s death by black hole. Researchers made this discovery using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Swift satellite as well as ESA’s XMM-Newton. The trio of orbiting X-ray telescopes found evidence for a “tidal disruption event” (TDE), wherein the tidal forces due to the intense gravity from a black hole can destroy an object – such as a star – that wanders too close. During a TDE, some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speeds, while the rest falls toward the black hole. As it travels inwards to be ingested by the black hole, the material becomes heats up to millions of degrees and generates a distinct X-ray flare. #NASA #space #chandra #blackhole

A photo posted by Marshall Space Flight Center (@nasa_marshall) on Feb 6, 2017 at 11:26am PST

A black hole in general is truly a sight to behold, but its somehow “beautiful devastation” can cause monumental cosmic disturbances.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has revealed the presence of a monstrous black hole which has been continuously devouring a nearby star for the past 11 years.

The unprecedented feat, which has been detected by the University of New Hampshire research scientist Dacheng Lin, is the longest “space meal” ever observed in history, according to USAToday.

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Swift satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope, Lin and his team were able to document the grotesque munching by the black hole dubbed as XJ1500+0154.

According to researchers, the shocking phenomenon is the longest ever tidal disruption event documented by mankind.

“We have witnessed a star’s spectacular and prolonged demise,” Lin said in the report.  “Dozens of tidal disruption events have been detected since the 1990s, but none that remained bright for nearly as long as this one.”

NASA also disclosed that the intense gravity which comes from the cosmic disruption caused the star to rip apart, while other parts where pulled back and ingested by the black hole.

Due to the persistent chomping, the star heated up and emitted an extremely visible X-ray flare, which was picked up by their trio of X-ray telescopes.

Despite the black hole’s prolonged feasting, astronomer James Guillochon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge believes that the occurrence will continue to carry on for a considerable amount of time.

“For most of the time we’ve been looking at this object, it has been growing rapidly,” he said. “This tells us something unusual—like a star twice as heavy as our Sun—is being fed into the black hole.”

Meanwhile, XJ1500+0154’s binge-eating reportedly began sometime in July 2005 and has lasted ten times longer than any other observed incident by the space station.

Although the supernova seems to have already caused the star’s death, scientists believe the feasting should taper off over the next decade.  Khristian Ibarrola

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TAGS: black hole, NASA, supernova, tidal disruption event