In October 2018, a small star was torn to shreds when it came too close to a black hole in
An international group of astrophysicists has found thatA black hole ejects matter moving at half the speed of light. Why the release of matter occurred so long after the collision remains a mystery.
Scientists noticed an unusual spike whenreviewed data on tidal disruption events that have occurred over the past few years. These are astronomical phenomena that occur when a star approaches close enough to the event horizon of a supermassive black hole and is torn apart by its tidal forces, undergoing spaghettification.
Radio data from the Very Large Array telescope inNew Mexico revealed that a black hole mysteriously reanimated in June 2021. Using data from various observatories, scientists have collected all the observations of this region of the sky.
The study showed that the material from blackThe hole is moving at about half the speed of light. The ejection of material during the process of tidal destruction is a normal phenomenon, the scientists explain. It's like sloppy food: not everything they try to "eat" ends up in their mouths. But usually the ejection starts immediately after the merger and the speed is about 10% of the speed of light.
Researchers will continue to study the unusual object to understand what caused such an unusual "burp".
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On the cover: an artistic illustration of the tidal destruction of a star. Image: DESY, Science Communication Lab