New Type of Supernova Detected as Black Hole Causes Star To Explode (reuters.com)
(Thursday August 14, 2025 @05:26PM (msmash)
from the unraveling-mysteries dept.)
- Reference: 0178676490
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/14/1916235/new-type-of-supernova-detected-as-black-hole-causes-star-to-explode
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/science/new-type-supernova-detected-black-hole-causes-star-explode-2025-08-14/
An anonymous reader shares a report:
> Astronomers have observed the calamitous result of a star that picked the wrong dance partner. They have documented what appears to be [1]a new type of supernova , as stellar explosions are known, that occurred when a massive star tried to swallow a black hole with which it had engaged in a lengthy pas de deux.
>
> The star, which was at least 10 times as massive as our sun, and the black hole, which had a similar mass, were gravitationally bound to one another in what is called a binary system. But as the distance separating them gradually narrowed, the black hole's immense gravitational pull appears to have distorted the star -- stretching it out from its spherical shape -- and siphoned off material before causing it to explode.
An AI algorithm detected the event in real time, enabling astronomers to conduct comprehensive observations. Data from four years before the supernova showed bright emissions as the black hole consumed its companion's outer hydrogen layer. The exact mechanism remains uncertain -- either gravitational distortion triggered the star's collapse or the black hole completely tore it apart first. Following the explosion, the black hole consumed residual stellar debris, growing more massive.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/science/new-type-supernova-detected-black-hole-causes-star-explode-2025-08-14/
> Astronomers have observed the calamitous result of a star that picked the wrong dance partner. They have documented what appears to be [1]a new type of supernova , as stellar explosions are known, that occurred when a massive star tried to swallow a black hole with which it had engaged in a lengthy pas de deux.
>
> The star, which was at least 10 times as massive as our sun, and the black hole, which had a similar mass, were gravitationally bound to one another in what is called a binary system. But as the distance separating them gradually narrowed, the black hole's immense gravitational pull appears to have distorted the star -- stretching it out from its spherical shape -- and siphoned off material before causing it to explode.
An AI algorithm detected the event in real time, enabling astronomers to conduct comprehensive observations. Data from four years before the supernova showed bright emissions as the black hole consumed its companion's outer hydrogen layer. The exact mechanism remains uncertain -- either gravitational distortion triggered the star's collapse or the black hole completely tore it apart first. Following the explosion, the black hole consumed residual stellar debris, growing more massive.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/science/new-type-supernova-detected-black-hole-causes-star-explode-2025-08-14/
Real time .... (Score:2)
by SpinyNorman ( 33776 )
> An AI algorithm detected the event in real time
Of course "real time" has a bit of a twist to it when you're observing something 700M light years away, in other words an event that actually happened 700M years ago, when multi-cellular life was just emerging on earth.
Read what they mean, not what they write (Score:3)
Detecting the supernova as a black hole did not cause it to explode.
The blackhole caused the star to explode. Detecting it doing it was probably not the cause. Unless you apply some weird quantum interpretation of measurement causing things to happen.