Scientists identify record explosion caused by black hole when destroying star
Astronomers witnessed a cosmic event of unprecedented intensity. The observation suggests that a black hole ruptured a massive star, releasing an amount of energy significantly greater than that of a standard supernova.
While the tearing apart of a star by a black hole is already a record-breaking milestone, researchers’ subsequent discoveries promise to be even more impressive for science.
Black holes are recognized as some of the most devastating entities in the cosmos, and astronomy scientists have just witnessed an unprecedented episode of celestial aggression. A recently identified phenomenon points to a black hole disintegrating a giant star, causing an outburst so intense that it exceeded all explosions resulting from the collapse of stars already catalogued.
Officially named AT2024wpp and known as Whippet, this cosmic event emitted, for a short period, energy equivalent to 400 billion suns. This magnitude positions it as significantly more powerful than a conventional supernova and more luminous than any explosion ever recorded as a result of stellar collapse.
The scientists’ hypothesis is that the explosion was triggered when a massive star came too close to a black hole. The colossal gravitational force of the latter deformed and disintegrated the star, channeling part of its matter into an incandescent disk. As the fragments spiraled toward the center, they released powerful X-rays and generated a strong flow of gas from previously ejected stellar matter.
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Daniel Perley, associate professor of astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University and lead author of the research, reported the scenario during the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society: “We identified what we interpret as a black hole joining a massive companion star, disintegrating it into a disk that nurtures the black hole. This is an unusual and remarkable event.”
Exploring the nature of the most powerful cosmic explosion ever seen
Astronomy experts had already documented the destruction of stars by black holes, phenomena known as Tidal Rupture Events. However, what sets the Whippet apart are its size, speed and luminosity. It also falls into the unusual category of Fast and Luminous Blue Optical Transients (LFBOTs), characterized by intense emissions of blue and ultraviolet light, and a much more agile disappearance than traditional supernovae.
On the same topic: Astronomers record longest gamma-ray burst ever seen from black hole devouring star
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Anna Ho, assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University and co-author of the research, detected the Whippet shortly after its luminescence reached the planet, through the Zwicky Transient Facility, located at the Palomar Observatory in California. In a period of less than 24 hours, both the Liverpool Telescope in the Canary Islands and NASA’s Swift satellite confirmed the intensely blue nature and emission of X-rays by the object.
Distance estimates by R. Michael Rich of UCLA and Yu-Jing Qin of Caltech revealed that the energetic magnitude of the explosion was incompatible with that of a typical supernova. The excessive heat and accelerated evolution of the event alternatively indicated the tearing apart and ingestion of a star by a black hole.
Perley said: “Although there was suspicion about the nature of the event, its scale was staggering. It proved to be far more energetic than any similar occurrence and surpassed all explosions previously identified as a result of stellar collapse.”
Perley added that “phenomena like this not only help locate black holes, but also offer a new method for understanding where they arise, how they develop and what physics governs them.”
Learn more: Rare cosmic phenomenon releases energy of 400 billion suns as it annihilates massive superstar
How shock waves reveal the star’s dramatic end
Whippet also brought to light an element rarely observable directly by astronomers: the invisible gas that surrounded the doomed star. A shock wave traveled at approximately one-fifth the speed of light, colliding with nearby dense matter before disappearing abruptly after about six months. Scientists infer that the shock dissolved by encountering the end of a bubble of gas that the star had released before its total disintegration.
The gas present in the area contributed to the black hole’s absorption process becoming a luminous spectacle. The disk surrounding the black hole generated X-rays and a vigorous gas “wind”, which collided with the star’s previous emissions. This interaction produced the blue optical and ultraviolet luminosity observed initially, followed by radio and millimeter signals later.
Unanswered questions that intrigue the scientific community
One of the most peculiar signs emerged only after the beginning of the phenomenon’s dissipation phase. Primary analyzes carried out by the Keck and Magellan Observatories, together with the Very Large Telescope, revealed virtually no identifiable chemical traces. Later, faint traces of hydrogen and helium were noticed. Helium, in particular, was moving toward Earth at speeds exceeding 6,000 kilometers per second, suggesting the survival of some dense structure from the initial explosion.
The researchers consider that this could represent a flow of matter detached from the center of the star as the black hole disintegrated it. An even more hypothetical theory suggests that another celestial body in the system, possibly a third star, was hit by the stream of particles and X-ray radiation emanating from the black hole.
