Hubble Discovery Black Hole Twists Star Into Donut Shape

Space.com

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a tidal disruption event 300 million light years away. The donut shaped remains of a star were found around a hungry black hole.   Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Transcript

00:00Astronomers, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, have recorded a star's final moments in detail

00:06as it was ripped apart and eaten up by a black hole in a tidal disruption event.

00:12The shredded star is nearly 300 million light-years away,

00:16but astronomers used Hubble's powerful ultraviolet sensitivity to analyze its light

00:22to gather forensic clues of the violent event.

00:25Hubble data found a very bright, hot, donut-shaped area of gas the size of the solar system swirling around a black hole.

00:34The swirling gas was once a star.

00:38Usually, astronomers get just a few observations at the beginning of a disruption event when it's very bright,

00:45but this energetic collision's proximity and brightness allowed Hubble to gather ultraviolet data over a longer-than-normal time period.

00:54This is a rare opportunity for scientists to create models of what they think is going on

01:00and then compare those models with what Hubble sees.

01:04It is an exciting place for scientists to be, right at the intersection of the known and the unknown.

01:11It is an exciting place for scientists to be, right at the intersection of the unknown.

01:12It is an exciting place for scientists to be, right at the intersection of the unknown.

01:16Hubble fan of the unknown…

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