Buzz
Black holes remain some of the universe's greatest enigmas, yet advances in technology are offering crucial insights into their devastating force. In a recent study featured in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists created the most precise depiction to date of a star being torn apart by a supermassive black hole, a phenomenon known as a tidal disruption event.
Approximately 100 events like this have been observed over the past 15 years. This new simulation helps clarify some of the less understood elements of the occurrence. For instance, the researchers noted that stars consumed by supermassive black holes emit visible light, in contrast to other objects which release X-rays.
Watch the simulation in the video below, presented by study co-author Daniel Price.
The gravitational pull of a black hole is so powerful that nothing can escape it; even a planet would be destroyed if it ventures too close. As objects, including stars, approach this cosmic giant, they are subjected to immense tidal forces. The black hole’s gravity is strong enough to rip apart these celestial bodies.
As NASA explains, the event horizon, also known as the point of no return, is the boundary that traps matter within a supermassive black hole’s grip. When an object gets closer, it stretches like a piece of spaghetti. This phenomenon, known as spaghettification, was coined by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
Once a star undergoes spaghettification, part of its disintegrated form is drawn into the black hole. The resulting fragments then create an accretion disk—a thin, disk-like structure—feeding the black hole. Meanwhile, the rest of the star is ejected into space.
Black holes can also transform stars into another shape: pancakes. This Pancake detonation occurs when the tidal forces near a black hole flatten an object into a pancake-like shape.
