A team of scientists witnessed a black hole gobble up a star. The black hole also consumed a jet of matter not a moment after its first feast. The researchers published a report about the event in the journal Science Nov. 26.
The lead author and researcher at the Johns Hopkins University, Sjoert van Velzen, says that this kind of event have never been caught on action before. The images that were taken confirmed the existence of the jets.
The experts said that the pull from the black hole is so strong that not a single entity can escape from it. Matter like stars, gas, and light are the constant feast for black holes. They also affect the space-time fabric - they can create a void because of their gravitation.
The way the black holes swallow matter is the same as the moon's gravitational pull of the ocean's waves. The authors claim that it is a similar process however; in this case, it's a whole different and bigger scale.
The tidal pressure was huge and it eventually destroyed the star apart into "spaghetti streams" of gas prior to engulfing it as van Velzen explained. These streams are caught by the black hole and they continue to emit light even after being pulled closer by the void. When the light gets trapped, matter breaks through and creates a burst.
Even our very own galaxy is believed to host these majestic black holes. An observation about the black hole is that its behavior was not ordinary. It is very unusual for a star to be trapped by a black hole, thrown into nothingness, and then emit a jet after the show.
Van Velzen claims that it is an unfortunate event for the star of the story. Just try to compare the small size of the black hole to its actual host galaxy.
For the meantime, van Velzen and his team will be monitoring the black hole and the jet.
