{"id":22936,"date":"2020-10-12T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22936"},"modified":"2020-10-11T18:20:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T22:20:34","slug":"eso-telescopes-observe-last-moments-of-a-star-eaten-by-a-black-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=22936","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Telescopes observe final moments of a star eaten by a black hole"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Death by Spaghettification:
\nESO Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured by a Black Hole<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This illustration depicts a star (in the foreground) experiencing spaghettification as it\u2019s sucked in by a supermassive black hole (in the background) during a \u2018tidal disruption event\u2019. In a new study, done with the help of ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope and ESO\u2019s New Technology Telescope, a team of astronomers found that when a black hole devours a star, it can launch a powerful blast of material outwards.Credits ES<\/a>O<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organisations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth, and has been studied in unprecedented detail. The research is published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of a black hole \u2018sucking in\u2019 a nearby star sounds like science fiction. But this is exactly what happens in a tidal disruption event,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

says Matt Nicholl, a\u00a0lecturer and Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK, and the lead author of the new study. But these tidal disruption events, where a star experiences what\u2019s known as spaghettification<\/a> as it\u2019s sucked in by a black hole, are rare and not always easy to study. The team of researchers pointed ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT<\/a>) and ESO\u2019s New Technology Telescope (NTT<\/a>) at a new flash of light that occurred last year close to a supermassive black hole, to investigate in detail what happens when a star is devoured by such a monster.<\/p>\n