[NASA] Black Hole Destroys Star, Goes After Another, NASA Missions Find

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X-ray: NASA/CXC/Queen’s Univ. Belfast/M. Nicholl et al.; Optical/IR: PanSTARRS, NSF/Legacy Survey/SDSS; Illustration: Soheb Mandhai / The Astro Phoenix; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

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and other telescopes have identified a

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that has torn apart one

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and is now using that stellar wreckage to pummel another star or smaller ****** *****, as described in our

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. This research helps connect two cosmic mysteries and provides information about the environment around some of the ******* types of ****** holes.

This

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shows a disk of material (red, orange, and yellow) that was created after a supermassive ****** ***** (depicted on the right) tore apart a star through intense

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. Over the course of a few years, this disk expanded outward until it intersected with another object — either a star or a small ****** ***** — that is also in orbit around the giant ****** *****. Each time this object crashes into the disk, it sends out a burst of

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detected by Chandra. The inset shows Chandra data (purple) and an

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image of the source from Pan-STARRS (red, green, and blue).

In 2019, an optical telescope in California noticed a burst of light that astronomers later categorized as a “tidal disruption event”, or TDE. These are cases where ****** holes tear stars apart if they get too close through their powerful tidal forces. Astronomers gave this TDE the name of AT2019qiz.

Meanwhile, scientists were also tracking instances of another type of cosmic phenomena occasionally observed across the Universe. These were brief and regular bursts of X-rays that were near supermassive ****** holes. Astronomers named these events “quasi-periodic eruptions,” or QPEs.

This latest study gives scientists evidence that TDEs and QPEs are likely connected. The researchers think that QPEs arise when an object smashes into the disk left behind after the TDE. While there may be other explanations, the authors of the study propose this is the source of at least some QPEs.

In 2023, astronomers used both Chandra and Hubble to simultaneously study the debris left behind after the tidal disruption had ended. The Chandra data were obtained during three different observations, each separated by about 4 to 5 hours. The total exposure of about 14 hours of Chandra time revealed only a weak signal in the first and last chunk, but a very strong signal in the middle observation.

From there, the researchers used NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to look frequently at AT2019qiz for repeated X-ray bursts. The NICER data showed that AT2019qiz erupts roughly every 48 hours. Observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and India’s AstroSat telescope cemented the finding.

The

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data from Hubble, obtained at the same time as the Chandra observations, allowed the scientists to determine the size of the disk around the supermassive ****** *****. They found that the disk had become large enough that if any object was orbiting the ****** ***** and took about a week or less to complete an orbit, it would collide with the disk and cause eruptions.

This result has implications for searching for more quasi-periodic eruptions associated with tidal disruptions. Finding more of these would allow astronomers to measure the prevalence and distances of objects in close orbits around supermassive ****** holes. Some of these may be excellent targets for the planned future

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observatories.

The paper describing these results appears in the October 9, 2024 issue of the journal Nature. The first author of the paper is Matt Nicholl (Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland) and the full list of authors can be found in the paper, which is available online at:

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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

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Learn more about the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its mission here:

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Visual Description

This release features an artist’s rendering that illustrates the destructive power of a supermassive ****** *****. The digital image depicts a disk of stellar material surrounding one such ****** *****. At its outer edge a neighboring star is colliding with and flying through the disk.

The ****** ***** sits halfway down our right edge of the vertical image. It resembles a jet ****** semicircle with a domed cap of pale blue light. The bottom half of the circular ****** ***** is hidden behind the disk of stellar material. In this illustration, the disk is viewed edge on. It resembles a band of swirling yellow, orange, and red gas, cutting diagonally from our middle right toward our lower left.

Near our lower left, the outer edge of the stellar debris disk overlaps with a bright blue sphere surrounded by luminous white swirls. This sphere represents a neighboring star crashing through the disk. The stellar disk is the wreckage of a destroyed star. An electric blue and white wave shows the hottest gas in the disk.

As the neighboring star crashes through the disk it leaves behind a trail of gas depicted as streaks of fine mist. Bursts of X-rays are released and are detected by Chandra.

Superimposed in the upper left corner of the illustration is an inset box showing a close up image of the source in X-ray and optical light. X-ray light is shown as purple and optical light is white and beige.

News Media Contact

Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Center
Cambridge, Mass.
617-496-7998
*****@*****.tld

Lane Figueroa
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
lane.e*****@*****.tld

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