NASA revealed a beautiful animation video of what happens to a star if they get too close to a black hole or as astronomers call it, a “Tidal Disruption.”
Using data obtained from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and other two telescopes, the team was able to observe how the black hole basically killed a star. This confirmed the theory model that Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and James Guillochon, a former UCSC graduate student now at Harvard University, developed on tidal disruptions.
This fascinating event baptized “ASASSN-14li,” took place about 290 million light years from Earth making this one of the closest ones discovered during the last 10 years. This black hole is located in the center of galaxy PGC 043234.
“We have seen evidence for a handful of tidal disruptions over the years and have developed a lot of ideas of what goes on. This one is the best chance we have had so far to really understand what happens when a black hole shreds a star,” study leader Jon Miller of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor established to Nature World Report.
Scientists explain that the immense gravitational forces of the black hole cause intense tidal forces that rip apart the star in a tidal disruption event. One part gets drawn into the black hole and the rest is ejected into space at high speeds. This triggers X-Ray flashes in the sky that can be seen for years. Astronomers agree that this has been the first occasion where they had the chance to see radiation emitted in X-Ray and optical wavelengths.
Jelle Kaastra of the Institute for Space Research in the Netherlands said, “The black hole tears the star apart and starts swallowing material really quickly, but that’s not the end of the story. The black hole can’t keep up that pace so it expels some of the material outwards,” during a news release as Huffpost Science reported.
Source: NASA