Radio astronomers scouring the archives spotted black hole devouring a star

The matter was ejected in the wake of a star being shredded by a supermassive black hole at the center of one of the colliding galaxies.Astronomers found another TDE in 2020 (dubbed AT 2019qiz), which provided the first direct evidence that outflowing gas during disruption and accretion produces the powerful optical and radio emissions previously observed.However, these powerful bursts of light are often shrouded behind a curtain of interstellar dust and debris, making it difficult for astronomers to spot or study them in greater detail using optical or X-ray telescopes. They found images of the same object in the archives of the Green Bank 300-foot telescope, which showed the object had been even brighter in 1986/1987.Bolstered further by new observations taken by the VLA, Ravi and his team concluded that the object was a TDE—the result of a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy some 500 million light years away that devoured a star and expelled a powerful radio jet traveling near the speed of light. Ravi's group has already spotted another possible radio-bright TDE using the VLA, although it may also be a flare from an active supermassive black hole.You must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.