Those were detected by the space observatory. The stellar material that falls into the black hole heats up to around 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit (2 million degrees Celsius), unleashing an immense amount of X-rays. Such an event is called a “repeating partial tidal disruption.” At one end of its orbit, it ventures near enough to the black hole to have some material from its stellar atmosphere sucked away, or accreted, each time it passes – but not so close as to have the whole star shredded. The star was observed orbiting the black hole every 20 to 30 days. Most of the data used by the scientists in the new study came from NASA’s orbiting Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Most galaxies have such black holes at their center, and the environment around them can be among the most violent places in the universe. Some other galaxies harbor supermassive black holes hundreds of millions times the mass of the sun.Īlso read: Alien Planet With Metallic Clouds Resembles ‘A Giant Mirror in Space’ The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, possesses about 4 million times the mass of our sun. It was observed being plundered by a supermassive black hole at the heart of a spiral-shaped galaxy.Īs such black holes go, this one is relatively small, estimated to have a mass a few hundred thousand times larger than the sun. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The star is located about 520 million light years from our solar system. Researchers said they have observed a supermassive black hole at the center of a relatively nearby galaxy as it takes bites out of a star similar in size and composition to our sun, consuming material equal to about three times Earth’s mass each time the star makes a close pass on its elongated oval-shaped obit.īlack holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape. But some, it turns out, tend to snack rather than gorge. Black holes, celestial objects known for their gluttony, usually eat stars unlucky enough to stray too close to them in one big gulp, annihilating them with their enormous gravitational pull.

Black Hole Battle - Eat All instaling