Scientists watch flare with 10 trillion suns' light from massive black hole

"Scientists have documented the most energetic flare ever observed emanating from a supermassive black hole, a cataclysmic event that briefly shone with the light of 10 trillion suns. The new findings were published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Astronomy, with astronomer Matthew Graham of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) leading the study."

"The phenomenal burst of energy was likely triggered when an unusually large star wandered too close to the black hole and was violently shredded and swallowed. However it happened, the star wandered close enough to the supermassive black hole that it was spaghettified' that is, stretched out to become long and thin, due to the gravity of the supermassive black hole strengthening as you get very close to it. That material then spiralled around the supermassive black hole as it fell in, said astronomer and study co-author KE Saavik Ford."

"The supermassive black hole was unleashed by a black hole roughly 300 million times the mass of the sun residing inside a faraway galaxy, about 11 billion light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The star, estimated to be between 30 and 200 times the mass of the sun, was turned into a stream of gas that heated up and shined intensely as it spiralled into oblivion."

Observers recorded the most energetic flare yet seen from a supermassive black hole, briefly emitting brightness comparable to 10 trillion suns. The flare was first detected in 2018 by the Palomar Observatory and rose to peak brightness over about three months, reaching roughly 30 times the luminosity of prior similar events. The event likely resulted from a massive star, roughly 30–200 times the mass of the sun, wandering close enough to be tidally shredded and spaghettified; its gas then spiralled into a roughly 300-million-solar-mass black hole about 11 billion light-years away. The flare is ongoing but fading and may take about 11 years to complete.

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