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Astronomers See Distant Eruption as Black Hole Destroys Star


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Tidal disruption event

An artist's concept of a tidal disruption event (TDE) that happens when a star passes fatally close to a supermassive black hole, which reacts by launching a relativistic jet.

Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF

For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the powerful gravity of a supermassive black hole ripped apart a star that wandered too close to the massive monster.

From Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA
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