It’s a situation never seen before. It was recorded by some lucky astronomers. They analyze in their new study the stellar burp of a black hole.
It is a small star torn into pieces. In October 2018 when it passed very close to a black hole. where? In a galaxy located 665 million light-years from Earth. And now the hole seems to be regurgitating it.
Distant glow
Nearly three years passed after the absorption. It was analyzed by scientists at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA). They recorded luminosity at the same point due to the ejection of material from the black hole. It is traveling at half the speed of light, and they analyzed the phenomenon in a study published by this academic institution.
“This took us completely by surprise. No one has ever seen anything like it before.” Describes researcher Yvette Cendes, author of the study published in Astrophysical Journal.
The results of the analysis allow astronomers to understand the absorption behavior of black holes. Using radio information, the researchers identified that the black hole began to reactivate in June 2021. Therefore, they directed several telescopes to the point of interest.
Observatories in Chile, New Mexico, South Africa, and Australia were involved. Each performed observational tasks of what are known as tidal disruption events (TDE). According to the CFA they usually emit light.
“When a star approaches a black hole, gravitational forces begin to constrict it. Or turn it into spaghetti. Eventually, the elongated material forms spirals around the black hole and heats up. This creates a glow that astronomers can locate millions of light-years away,” explained the astronomy facility.
Stellar tardiness
Such returns of absorbed material are usual. The novelty recorded on this occasion is the delay of years for the ejection, the center added. “The stellar burp of a black hole ejects a star that was eaten years earlier,” they noted.
Another anomaly is the speed at which the material was ejected. It usually travels at 10% of the speed of light, when in this case it reached 50%.
