The Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA has captured one of the most horrifying moments of a monstrous black hole located 210 million light-years away from us.
According to Space.com, the latest data about galaxy AT2019qiz reveals a structure described as a “graveyard” surrounding the central black hole.
“Graveyard” around the black hole refers to a bizarre disc of material spiraling around this black hole and attacking another unfortunate star that ventures too close.
The small image shows unusual data about the central black hole of galaxy AT2019qiz, while the larger image depicts how the black hole tears apart a star and uses the material from this star to destroy another object – (Photo: NASA).
The research team, led by astronomer Matt Nicholl from Queen’s University Belfast (UK), analyzed the data and unraveled the true story behind this terrifying cosmic structure.
What we are witnessing is a monstrous black hole that has shredded a star, turning the remnants of that star into a companion killer, which continues to attack another star.
The original star unfortunately ventured too close to the black hole and was destroyed in a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE), also known as “black hole shredding a star,” caused by a tidal force so brutal that instead of the entire star being pulled into the black hole, it was ripped apart midway.
As a result, part of this star became trapped around the black hole, forming a flattened cloud enveloping it.
The debris from this star has expanded to the point where another star orbiting the black hole continually collides with it.
These collisions have severely damaged the second star, producing powerful X-ray jets that Chandra has captured.
It was these X-ray jets – repeating every 48 hours – that drew scientists’ attention to this system.
Additional observational data from the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed scientists to determine the width of the accretion disc surrounding this supermassive black hole.
They found that it has expanded enough for any object orbiting the black hole within a cycle of about a week or less to pierce through the disc and cause eruptions.
Co-author Andrew Mummery from the University of Oxford (UK) stated that this discovery is a major breakthrough in black hole research.
Previously, scientists had recorded similar periodic X-ray emissions from other monstrous black holes, but the nature of these emissions remained unknown.
