Tidal disruption events (TDEs) occur when a star ventures too close to a supermassive black hole and is gravitationally torn apart by tidal forces. The resulting stellar debris forms an accretion disc ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers have created a stunning animation showing the suspected intermediate-mass black hole ...

When a star moves around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in a close elliptical orbit, it gets partially tidally disrupted every time it reaches the pericenter, emitting a series of luminous flares, ...

A team of researchers recently observed a distant star that was ripped to shreds by a supermassive black hole. The tidal ...

What can dormant black holes teach astronomers about tidal disruption events (TDEs), which is the bright flash observed when a black hole consumes a star that passes too close to it? This is what a ...

A star’s fatal brush with a supermassive black hole can light up a quiet galaxy. When gravity shreds the star, its gas spirals inward and briefly glows. Astronomers call these flares tidal disruption ...

Could one cosmic event outshine 10 trillion suns? Astronomers have now observed just that a record-breaking flare from a supermassive black hole, fueled by the cataclysmic destruction of a massive ...

A supermassive black hole tears up a star in a tidal disruption event, pulling gas away and creating an accretion disk. Credit: Ralf Crawford illustration When a star strays too close to a ...

This so-called tidal disruption event is the best way to spot these middle-mass black holes. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A ...

An artist’s impression of a tidal disruption event, in which a star is spaghettified and the remains form an accretion disk around the black hole. Typically, about half the star’s mass is drawn into ...