Black Hole Dwarfs Death Star
Astronomers observed a supermassive black hole unleashing an energy burst "100 trillion times" more powerful than the Death Star from *Star Wars*. The tidal disruption event saw the black hole devour a star, putting fictional superweapons into cosmic perspective. The real-universe spectacle highlights the awe-inspiring scale of astrophysical phenomena that humble even imaginative science fiction.
- This specific tidal disruption event is named AT2018hyz, and it occurred in a galaxy located 665 million light-years from Earth. - Although the star was torn apart in 2018, the black hole only began emitting powerful radio waves years later, with the energy output still increasing and expected to peak in 2027. - The process of a star being stretched and shredded by a black hole's gravitational forces is known as "spaghettification." - This event, named AT2021lwx, is located approximately 8 billion light-years away and has been actively releasing energy for over three years, a much longer duration than typical supernovae which fade in months. - Discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, the event was so powerful it released about 100 times the energy the sun will emit over its entire 10-billion-year lifespan in just three years. - While a gamma-ray burst in 2022 was technically brighter, it lasted only for a few minutes, making AT2021lwx the most energetic explosion ever recorded due to its long duration. - University of Oregon astrophysicist Yvette Cendes, who has been studying the event, nicknamed it "Jetty McJetface." - Further observations are planned using different wavelengths, including X-rays, to better understand the temperature and physical processes occurring at the event's surface.
