Astronomers have recorded the most powerful black-hole-driven flare ever observed—emitted when a supermassive black hole devoured a star and blazed with the light of approximately 10 trillion times that of our Sun.
Key Findings
- The outburst occurred in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) designated J2245+3743, located about 10 billion light-years away.
- The black hole itself is estimated to be roughly 500 million solar masses.
- The event is categorized as a tidal disruption event (TDE)—a massive star, likely at least 30 times the Sun’s mass, wandered too close and was torn apart by the black hole’s gravity.
- Unusually, the flare has endured for about seven years, an extraordinarily long duration for a TDE.
Why It Matters
This discovery pushes the envelope of our understanding of how black holes interact with their surroundings. Earlier models assumed such flares were short-lived and less luminous. But this event reveals a black hole actively and energetically “feeding” in a way that defies expectations. Scientists are now rethinking assumptions about black-hole behavior in AGNs.
Looking Ahead
Researchers plan further observations to track how the luminosity evolves and whether similar events might be hiding in archival survey data. The existence of such a massive, sustained flare opens up the possibility that other hidden extreme events await discovery.
