Space and astronomy news
MIT scientists have identified 18 new tidal disruption events — extreme instances when a nearby star is tidally drawn into a black hole and ripped to shreds. The detections more than double the number of known TDEs in the nearby universe. Credits:Credit: Courtesy of the researchers, edited by MIT News
Black holes are the remains of massive stars that have reached the end of their lives. During the main chunk of a stars life there are two forces at play; gravity trying to collapse a star and the thermonuclear force trying to force the star apart. When massive stars reach the end of their lives, gravity overcomes the thermonuclear force and the core collapses leading to the formation of a black hole.
In the paper which was authored by Megan Masterson and team from MIT, appeared in the Astrophysical Journal and they announced the discovery of 18 new stellar graveyards where stars had been ripped up by the extreme gravity of a black hole. The event, known more properly as a Tidal Disruption Event gives off a burst of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum and it is this, the team has been hunting.