Earth watches black hole rip apart one star, move on to another

This finding sheds light on two cosmic mysteries and provides valuable insights into the environment surrounding some of the universe's largest black holes.

In Short

• The discovery centers around a tidal disruption event (TDE)
• Black hole's intense gravitational forces shredded a nearby star
• Hubble's ultraviolet observations helped determine the size of the debris disk

Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying a supermassive black hole that has not only torn apart one star but is now using the resulting debris to bombard and kill another celestial object.

This finding sheds light on two cosmic mysteries and provides valuable insights into the environment surrounding some of the universe's largest black holes.

The discovery centers around a tidal disruption event (TDE) named AT2019qiz, first observed in 2019 when a black hole's intense gravitational forces shredded a nearby star.

As astronomers continued to study this event, they noticed an unexpected phenomenon: regular bursts of X-rays emanating from the vicinity of the black hole.

These X-ray bursts, known as quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs), were found to occur approximately every 48 hours. The research team proposes that these eruptions are caused by another object - either a star or a smaller black hole - repeatedly colliding with the disk of stellar debris left behind by the initial TDE.

Using a combination of Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and other instruments including NICER and Swift, scientists were able to observe and analyze these collisions in unprecedented detail.

The Chandra data revealed a pattern of weak and strong X-ray signals, while Hubble's ultraviolet observations helped determine the size of the debris disk.

This discovery provides the first concrete evidence linking TDEs and QPEs, two previously separate areas of astronomical study. It suggests that at least some QPEs may be the result of objects interacting with the aftermath of tidal disruption events.

The implications of this finding are far-reaching. It opens up new avenues for detecting and studying objects in close orbit around supermassive black holes, potentially providing targets for future gravitational wave observatories.

Moreover, it offers a unique window into the dynamic and violent processes occurring in the extreme environments near these cosmic giants.

As astronomers continue to analyse this system and search for similar events, they hope to gain a deeper understanding of the prevalence and characteristics of objects orbiting supermassive black holes throughout the universe.

This research, published in the journal Nature, marks a significant step forward in our understanding of these enigmatic cosmic phenomena.