Diagram of a tidal disruption event
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Astronomers have captured a supermassive black hole engulfing a massive star in the largest, brightest and most powerful phenomenon ever observed, which may be the missing link that helps understand the mysteriously bright cosmic objects at the centers of several active galaxies.
When a black hole gobbles up a star, it doesn’t happen in one giant gulp, the star is ripped apart in a violent process called a tidal disruption event (TDE). These are some of the most luminous phenomena in the sky. Ed Berger…
