INBOX ASTRONOMY
NASA's Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole
Release date: Thursday, May 8, 2025 10:00:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Wandering black hole ate a star that got in its way.
The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a sneaky black hole that betrayed its presence in a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE), where a hapless star was ripped apart and swallowed in a spectacular burst of radiation. Unlike previously observed TDEs, which took place in the center of a galaxy, this event was thousands of light-years from its galactic center. This is the first offset TDE captured by optical sky surveys, and it opens up the entire possibility of uncovering this elusive population of wandering black holes with future sky surveys.
The TDE black hole is far enough away from the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole that they are not gravitationally bound to each other as a binary pair. And, astronomers don’t know if the roaming black hole is coming or going. Did it fall into the galaxy as a result of a merger between two galaxies? Or was it kicked out of a “wresting ring” where three supermassive black hole dynamically interacted?
Find additional articles, images, and videos at
www.stsci.edu
Please do not reply to this message.
You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the Inbox Astronomy mailing list.
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute's
Office of Public Outreach