NASA | Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star

When a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole, the black hole's gravity can tear the star apart. This is called a tidal disruption event. The stellar debris is flung outward at high speed, while some of it falls into the black hole. This causes a bright flash of X-rays that can last for several years.

In 2014, astronomers observed a tidal disruption event called ASASSN-14li. This event occurred in a galaxy about 290 million light-years away. The black hole that shredded the star was estimated to be a few million times the mass of the sun.

Astronomers are still learning about tidal disruption events. They hope to find more events like ASASSN-14li to test theoretical models about how black holes affect their environments.
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