Colossal Black Hole Caught Shredding a Massive Star in Rare Cosmic Event Known as the 'Whippet'
A colossal black hole has been caught tearing apart a massive star, likened by scientists to "preparing a snack for lunch", during observations presented at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting held from 4-8 January.
Astronomers across the globe witnessed the dramatic cosmic encounter, which was reported at the AAS conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The doomed star was described as being ripped apart and consumed piece by piece by black hole's overwhelming gravitational pull.
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Scientists Describe an Exceptionally Rare Stellar Destruction
Speaking at the conference, Associate Professor of Astrophysics Daniel Perley of Liverpool John Moores University, lead author of a forthcoming paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, said:
"We believe we have identified a black hole merging with a massive companion star, shredding it into a disc that then feeds the black hole. It is an exceptionally rare and striking event."
The resulting blast ranks among the most powerful cosmic events ever recorded. For a brief period, the energy released surged to around 400 billion times that of the Sun, surpassing even the most extreme supernova explosions known to science.
While astronomers have previously observed black holes tearing apart stars in events known as tidal disruption events, nothing of this extraordinary scale has been seen before.
Discovery and Identification of the Event
The extraordinary event, designated AT2024wpp and informally known as the Whippet, was identified almost immediately by Anna Ho, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University and co-author of the study with Daniel Perley. The discovery was made using the Zwicky Transient Facility at California's Palomar Observatory.
Researchers quickly realized that the event was likely a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT) — a rare and enigmatic type of optical outburst associated with stellar destruction.
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Rapid Follow-Up Observations Confirm Extreme Nature
Within a day, the team obtained follow-up data from the Liverpool Telescope in the Canary Islands and NASA's Swift satellite, confirming that the object matched key LFBOT characteristics, including its striking blue colour and the presence of X-ray emission.
The nature of the event was confirmed when co-authors R. Michael Rich of UCLA and Yu-Jing Qin of Caltech provided precise distance measurements, revealing that the object was releasing far more energy than a typical supernova. Combined with other observations, including its extraordinarily high temperature, the data led the team to conclude that they were witnessing a star being torn apart and ultimately consumed by a black hole.
Implications and Ongoing Mysteries
"Even though we had a strong idea of what we were seeing, the event was still extraordinary," Perley said. "It was many times more energetic than anything similar we have observed, and more powerful than any known explosion driven by a collapsing star."
Perley added that such events do more than reveal the presence of black holes.
"They offer a new way to pinpoint where black holes exist, how they form and grow, and the physical processes that drive their evolution."
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Shock Waves, Extreme Winds and Rapid Fading
Further studies of AT2024wpp show that it generated an intense shock wave that surged into dense surrounding gas at around one fifth the speed of light, before unexpectedly fading after roughly six months.
As matter within the disk spirals inward towards the center, it is heated to extreme temperatures, emitting intense X-ray radiation and driving a powerful gaseous "wind".
How the Bright Emission Was Produced
- This outflow slams into material expelled by the star before its final destruction
- It produces the bright blue optical and ultraviolet light seen in the first few days
- Radio and millimeter signals were detected later
- The shock wave fades once it reaches the boundary of the gas bubble shed by the star earlier
Mysterious Chemical Signals Emerge
One puzzle remains unresolved. Observations from the Keck Observatory, the Magellan Observatory and the Vary Large Telescope showed that during the first month after the explosion, the event displayed no clear chemical fingerprints.
Yet, as the source dimmed, faint signatures of hydrogen and helium began to appear.
To the team's surprise, the helium was moving directly along the line of sight at more than 6,000 kilometers per second, indicating that a compact structure had endured the explosion and was now travelling rapidly in our direction.
Possible Origins of the High-Speed Helium
Scientists believe this material may have been drawn from a stream released by the star's core as it was ripped apart by the black hole's powerful gravitational pull.
In a more speculative scenario, the helium could come from a third body in the system, struck by the high-speed particle winds and X-ray radiation emitted by the feeding black hole.
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